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Sunday Morning Book Thread 05-24-2020

National Library of Ireland Dublin 01.jpg
National Library of Ireland, Dublin

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), the low-lifes, shady characters, "funny uncles", and the rest of you ne'er-do-wells. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants which may be from some "take your daughter to work" event in DC.



Pic Note:

It's not just full of blarney:

The National Library of Ireland was established by the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act, 1877, which provided that the bulk of the collections in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, should be vested in the then Department of Science and Art for the benefit of the public and of the Society,

The mission of the Library is to collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the documentary and intellectual record of the life of Ireland and to contribute to the provision of access to the larger universe of recorded knowledge.


It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®



20200524 book pic 01.jpg
Mobile library, Rockville Fair, Maryland, 1928
(h/t Atlas Obscura)



The Great Memorial Day Weekend $0.99 Book Sale

You can peruse the complete list of sale books here. Here are a couple that caught my eye:

The first is the novella An Inconvenient Presidency: The Time-Traveling Misadventures of President Al Gore by Eric M. Hamilton, which is an installment in his 'Presidents of the Uncanny States of America' series:

On January 20, 2001, Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. became the 43rd President of the United States for the second time...

Newly elected President Al Gore is given a mysterious device that allows his mind to travel back in time and relive his presidency. He needs it, too! There is always some disaster forcing him to start over. Soon, the time-traveling President begins to suspect there’s more going on with this device than he first suspected.

Read the hilarious story of the President that never was, and discover why history turned out different.

The other novella in this series, Franklin Pierce in Death of a Vice President, also looks fun:

Madness, murder, and mystery permeates throughout this Edgar Allan Poe-inspired thriller!

It is early April 1853. Franklin Pierce, the newly elected President of the United States, has suffered the greatest personal tragedy of his life, plunging him into a depression fueled madness. The Vice President, William King, unexpectedly appears at the White House in the middle of the night having overheard details of an international assassination conspiracy that threatens both King and Pierce. Unfortunately, Vice President King is killed without any clue as to who could have done it. Can President Franklin Pierce overcome his personal demons and discover who killed the Vice President before they kill him too?

Franklin Pierce in Death of a Vice President is a thrilling psychological horror, starring the president from the 1850’s you forgot in 4th Grade. It’s an exciting read, and you don’t have to be familiar with Franklin Pierce at all to enjoy the story (in fact, it may be a better story if you go in knowing almost nothing). This is perfect for the American history-buff and "normal people" alike!

Franklin "I Can't Get No Respect" Pierce rebooted as a detective/crime-fighting badass gets points for originality. This novella is also priced at 99 cents.

__________________

Also of note is The Long Black, by J.M. Anjewierden:

Morgan always assumed that if she could survive growing up in the mines of Planet Hillman – feared for its brutal conditions and gravity twice that of Earth – she could survive anything.

That was before she became a starship mechanic. Now she has to contend with hostile bosses, faulty equipment, and even taking care of her friend’s little girl. Once pirates show up, it’s a wonder she can get any work done at all.

There's already a sequel, Black Holiday.

__________________

This is not part of the sale, but while I was pulling together the relevant bits of information for this item, I noticed that the Kindle edition of Star Soldiers by Andre Norton was on sale for FREE (as of Friday afternoon), so I grabbed it. Because free. And also because Norton is an author I have never gotten around to reading.

I hope it's still free when you're reading this so you can take advantage.



Who Dis:

who dis 20200524.jpg


Last week's 'who dis' was author Phillip Terry and Joan Crawford.



In The Year of the Plague - III

472 As I’ve said, my brain can only handle pulp and picture books during These Uncertain Times, but if you’re fully functional, bully for you!, and here’s a list of Tomes of Substance:
https://spectator.us/lockdown-list-books-quarantine/

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 26, 2020 12:01 PM (Dc2NZ

Here's a series discussed in the Spectator list that I don't believe has been mentioned here before, and if it has, I missed it:

If you like science fiction, but don’t want anything too close to the bone, I can recommend the Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson, which is about a World War Two destroyer that passes through a portal in the space-time continuum and plunges its crew into an alternate universe in which highly-evolved lemurs and lizards are engaged in an epic struggle for control of the earth’s resources. It sounds rather lowbrow, and I suppose it is, but the characters are very well-drawn and every inch of the canvas is filled in. The author is a gun buff so there’s lots of detail about ordinance, if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Highly recommended —.

And there are 14 Destroyermen novels in the series, so if you really like it, you have a lot of reading to do. Here's a link to the first in the series, Into the Storm, which Kindle edition costs only $2.99.



Misc. Book Notes

'Ette author Sabrina Chase sent me a link to some online explorable libraries

I doubt the hamsters can handle a direct imbed but the links might be fun for people to try. I'd warn people not to try the Klementinum library site when drunk, it's a little TOO responsive. I got dizzy looking at it sober.

Here's the link, 7 Spectacular Libraries You Can Explore From Your Living Room. In addition to the Klementinum, you can take a virtual tour of Harvard's Widener Library, King’s College Library at Cambridge University, and four other great libraries.



Inappropriate Children's Books:

icbooks 01.jpg



Moron Recommendations

Catch Thirty-Thr33 e-mails in a recommendation:

For anyone wanting to read a good book on the history of Berlin with a focus on the postwar era, I'd recommend Frederick Taylor's "Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989". The book covers the whole history of Berlin, but it focuses greatly on the postwar era, as the title indicates. Mr. Taylor goes into personalities on both sides of the Wall, and goes into the events as well. The airlift, the building of the Wall, and even the uprising of June 17, 1953 are featured in the book. Escapes and escape attempts from East Berlin are chronicled therein, and there are extensive sections on how East Germany kept its citizenry in line, through generally bribing the population whenever possible and of course through the usual measures of vicious police state tactics, such as the use of the Stasi. Finally, Mr. Taylor goes in depth into the Fall of the Wall and what happened afterwards (up until 2007, which I believe was the year the book was published - I bought my copy that summer). Best of all is that the book is very readable - it delivers the goods in easy to digest language and does so in a way that pulls the reader in and holds his or her interest. This is not a dense academic work - it is aimed at a general audience. This is exactly the kind of book those out there who were either born after 1989 or were too young to have a memory need to read so that they can get a sense of what a society ruled by a communist government is like. The memories are fading, I fear, and the sooner younger people are educated on topics like this, the better off we will all be.

I'm not quite old enough to have remembered the wall going up. I've always been curious as to the engineering involved, how the commies put it up in one night. And I am old enough to remember when it came down.

On the morning of August 13, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from family, friends, and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly split a city of four million in two...it became an imposing 103-mile-long wall guarded by three hundred watchtowers. A physical manifestation of the struggle between Soviet Communism and American capitalism that stood for nearly thirty years...In the definitive history on the subject, Frederick Taylor weaves together official history, archival materials, and personal accounts to tell the complete story of the Wall's rise and fall.

The Kindle edition of The Berlin Wall: August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989is $10.99.

___________

On the morning of July 12, 2017, the FBI Boston field office receives what appears to be a hoax call: a man rescued from the waters off Massachusetts has claimed that his sailboat was hijacked and used to smuggle weapons and terrorists into the United States. With local agents tasked to prepare for an evening Presidential visit to downtown Boston, and with procedures requiring a response to any threat, no matter how unreliable it may seem, FBI administrative staffer Ben Porter is dispatched to investigate the call. Can Ben, untrained in field work and relying only on his wits and intuition, uncover the deadly plot … in time to stop it?

This is the Amazon blurb for an action thriller that Rush Limbaugh was raving about a few days ago, False Assurances by Christopher Rosow. Apparently, there's going to be a series featuring the character Ben Porter, and the second installment, Threat Bias, has already been released. The Kindle versions go for $2.99 each, not a bad deal.

___________




20200524 book pic 03.jpg



Books By Morons

'Ette author and short-story specialist Lisa Mathisen has just released the latest installment of her 'Glimpse' series, 'Glimpse vol 9 – BEST SCENES' which is a

...mixed genre sampling of fan favorites. Short story maverick Mathisen highlights the best of her penetrating observations and musings, 50 uniquely original tales in flash fiction style ranging from biting humor or spiritual to frightening and dystopian.

Sometimes it’s a shocking mix to keep you guessing. A wild thrill ride through the lives of protagonists you never saw coming, it has something for everyone.

Mathisen reflects Mark Twain's sardonic humor; pinches of Poe's creepy elegance and large helpings of Heinlein's ability to wrap futuristic fantasies in human frailty. If you enjoy a quick read these 2 page stories will leave you thoroughly entertained.

Glimpse vol. 9 Best Scenes is available on Kindle for $2.99.

___________

Kerrie Ross (author of Rebel Without A Clue) has a new book out, A Dress For A Queen And Other Stories: Tales From A Funny Woman, containing the stories:


A Dress For A Queen
Lizzie loves to perform daring tricks in strange places- the only trouble is -her day job gets in the way.

The Story That Got Away
Deidre works alongside Rodney an editor, who turns up his nose at every story she writes. Until she comes across photos of his mother’s past life.

The Lady In The Box
Pete thought he knew everything there was to know about yoga until he meets the Lady in the box.

Boudicca And Mavis
The tail of a dancer waiting for a chance, she wants attention, she wants adoration but what she gets is a different story.

A comical collection of 4 short stories, all for $2.99.

___________

'Ette' author artemis has just released a new Regency romance novel, a nice summer read called The Spanish Mask:

A Spanish postulant is living quietly in her Andalusian convent until suddenly, the various factions from the Napoleonic war descend upon her, believing that she alone knows where the Spanish royal treasure lies hidden. As she attempts to convince the British Commander that she is not the missing royal, she finds she must also convince him that the attraction that crackles between them is forbidden, and for more reasons than one.

The Kindle edition is $4.99.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.



20200524 book pic 02.jpg

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Mornin all!

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:02 AM (ONvIw)

2 Who Dis? Bluebell?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:02 AM (PiwSw)

3 Oh, please, can I walk into that 1928 picture for a while? I don't like 2020.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:02 AM (2JVJo)

4 Eileen Brennan in Clue.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 09:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

5 Hey MP4, tell us your Book store story!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:03 AM (PiwSw)

6 Anyway, as for reading, I'm still reading 2066, but am considering abandoning it for something else. I finished part one, which seemed to end "unfinished", and I suspect most of the book will do the same. It took a while to engage with the main characters, and now they're gone for good.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:05 AM (ONvIw)

7 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:06 AM (7EjX1)

8 4: Yep

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:06 AM (ONvIw)

9 I think that Lieberry pic is fake. I don't see a Guinness tap anywhere.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:06 AM (PiwSw)

10 That Franklin Pierce book looks really interesting.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (2JVJo)

11 Andre Norton was the first sci-fi I ever read.

10 years old?

"Star Man's Son" IIRC

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (T09ml)

12 Collections of letters always sounds like it should be dull but I've found the opposite. The letters of Tolkien and, especially the three volumes of Letters from CS Lewis are interesting and revealing on a number of levels.

Last week I got "Chickens, Gin, and a Maine Friendship", correspondence between EB White and Edmund Ware Smith, mostly during the 1950s and 60s. The two writers were about the same age, well-known for their work, and shared a number of interests. They lived near to each other in Maine but often wrote when on the road for business and used letters rather than phone calls even when both were in state. I like that. The letters aren't earth shaking but do show the evolving relationship between them and give insight into the activities of two writers who can really turn a phrase with humor.

I should have waited for the book to come down in price but to hell with that. I'm enjoying it.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (7EjX1)

13 4: Mrs Peacock! Nice to have some more modern people included just for the wonderful picture.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (ONvIw)

14 Booken Morgen Horden!

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (G546f)

15 I read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. In this novel, Mantel tells a detailed story of the rise of Thomas Cromwell from an abused son of a blacksmith to become the most trusted advisor of Henry VIII. The book covers the years 1500 to 1535 and the death of Thomas More. I think the best writing in the book is the verbal jousting between the two Thomases, Cromwell and More, to save More's life by swearing an oath to support the heir of Henry and Anne Boleyn to the throne. Well-written historical fiction.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (3ugDL)

16 Who Dis lady is like, "Mess with me, buster, and I'm adding you to my Stole of Flayed Annoyances."

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 09:08 AM (BAsqb)

17 That looks like one of those droll cartoons from The New Yorker.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (kVr0X)

18 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants are fine. Would make things difficult for Joe Biden to go all gropey grope however.

The Who Dis is Betty Warren after she is denied her rightful place next to Gropey Joe.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (Z+IKu)

19 Make that 2666, I can't even keep the title straight

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (ONvIw)

20 I think that Lieberry pic is fake. I don't see a Guinness tap anywhere.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:06 AM (PiwSw)

Also, nobody's obviously on heroin.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (BAsqb)

21 20 I think that Lieberry pic is fake. I don't see a Guinness tap anywhere.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:06 AM (PiwSw)

Also, nobody's obviously on heroin.
Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (BAsqb

----------

And there are books.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 24, 2020 09:10 AM (kVr0X)

22 Good Sunday morning!

Posted by: A lotta nerve at May 24, 2020 09:11 AM (JdcHc)

23 I read Victorian Entertainment by Alan Delgado. Published in 1971, this is a rather thin volume that surveys how the British during the Victorian era kept themselves entertained. Lots of contemporary illustrations and photographs. The book is primarily devoted to the modes of entertainment popular during the 1850s to 1860s; I would have liked more discussion of the late 19th C. since I was interested in the background surrounding Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. One thing that struck me was how much English society changed during the reign (1837 - 1901) of Queen Victoria: we go from riots and debauchery to the rather staid facade that we popularly consider "Victorian." Rating = 3.75/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:11 AM (pJWtt)

24 "Cabinet of Calm" came through here as "Carbine of Calm". Close enough.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:12 AM (XxJt1)

25 Mentioning Presidents who get no respect, I think it's time we start defending Warren G Harding. "Back to Normalcy" is a message that is appropriate for today. And he meant the "old normal" (pre-Wilson), not the new.

On a related point, it reminds me of my wife, in her Toastmasters' days. It was her turn to pick a topic. She said "Who is your favorite President, and why?' But then added "Extra credit if it's Rutherford B Hayes."

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (ZbwAu)

26 Nothing much to report, reading-wise, other than - the gym reopened, so I'm back to racking up time on my Kindle, Neighborhood Handy Guy and his #1 Minion came to work on the hallway built-in bookshelf - which is nearly done and looks magnificent! And ... we have acquired another dog, a big yellow hound mix who looks like Old Yeller. Abandoned in our neighborhood a week ago, chipped but the registered owner isn't responding - so, the shelter where the dog was registered is considering him as being surrendered ... and processing our adopting him. (Pics to follow for the Pet Thread next week.)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (xnmPy)

27 So anyway, on Friday I drove up to Avenue Victor Hugo Books, which is now open on Fridays and Saturdays after having been locked down.

https://tinyurl.com/ycgdlm93

I didn't have a mask, but the owner and his wife did. Not because they want to, he told me, but because masks are apparently a requirement for him to re-open. He's not a Moron, but he's simpatico with us; we had a discussion about how it's nothing but virtue signaling now and how pathetic it is that so many people are not just eager, but demanding to bend the knee.

There were a couple of other shoppers around, but I don't know that too many people know the shop is open yet. No matter; I was happy because it's been too long since I've been able to wander around a bookstore.

I bought a book on American movie palaces, a history of them from the nickelodeon era through the 30s; a Time-Life history of Byzantium and - what I am reading now - The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Magaret MacMillan, whose question, she says, is not so much "why did the war come?" but, considering the century of peace prior to Sarajevo, "why did the peace end?" I borrowed this from the library about a year ago, but never got far. Now I own it and can read at my leisure.

https://tinyurl.com/ycosd33d

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (2JVJo)

28 I've been writing my novella, at 13 chapters and a little over 83 pages, double spaced, I think I've telescoped too much that would ordinarily take 300 pages,

Posted by: gaius martius at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (hMlTh)

29 Pierce's presidency started with tragedy IRL. On the was to the inauguration, the Pierce's train derailed and their son Bennie was killed right before his parents' eyes. That's the reason Pierce took the Oath using "affirm" instead of "swear".

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (4o2K3)

30 I'm almost finished with Booth Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons" (191. Thus far (don't spoil the ending for me, I know Orson hated what the studio did with his picture), Wells was remarkably faithful to the novel, taking whole portions of the dialog verbatim.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

31 I love the picture of the woman in the apron about to go read. Chances are she's finding a new canning recipe for her repertoire. I used to love canning time with the grandmothers and aunts, all wearing amazing aprons with ruffles and applique.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (ONvIw)

32 The attraction-revulsion conflict in the pants pic is really disturbing.

Woke up with legs cramping.

This coffee tastes like soap.

Surely this day can only get better. (Famous last words.)

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (bd376)

33 The 'who dis' is Eileen Brennan in "Clue", one of the great comic masterpieces in film.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:15 AM (7EjX1)

34 No Irish

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 24, 2020 09:15 AM (EZebt)

35 Good morning!

Still working my way through Stanley G. Payne's biography of Franco. I'm now up to the "Torch" landings and Franco's realization that maybe Hitler isn't going to win this thing after all.

As a precaution, he begins to "de-fascist" his government so as to make nice with the Americans and Brits should they come out on top.

The guy knew how to trim his sails to the wind, which is why his regime lasted so long. Consider this: his reign overlapped three different French Republics - the end of the Third, all of the Fourth and the start of the Fifth.

That's what I call staying power.

Meanwhile, I'm chugging along with my book on the Spanish Civil War. It's much more sporadic that fiction writing. You go and write a ton and then there's a pause for more research and to go back and look at other stuff.

It's also non-linear, so I can tear up a future event and in the process, go back and fill in what happened long before it.

I've given up on Antony Beevor. The guy is a useless tool who - even at this late date - STILL tries to keep the Guernica myth alive.

For me, Guernica is a litmus test on the war. If you buy into the hype that it was an unprecedented evil, vile use of air power in a "terror raid," you aren't a serious historian. It's that simple.

It was Comintern propaganda and the British press picked it up because Parliament was debating about enlarging the RAF. The alleged carnage at Guernica was used to justify appeasement on one side, and to push for massive rearmament on the other.

So it was a convenient lie for a lot of people.

Anyway, the hate-reading is over.


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:15 AM (cfSRQ)

36 Bought the "new" Heinlein yesterday, but haven't started it yet. It's in the queue.

This is is supposedly an alternate version of The Number of the Beast, which wasn't my favorite. I bought it mainly because I own every Heinlein. I don't have any great hopes for it.



Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM (mNq/0)

37 That looks like one of those droll cartoons from The New Yorker.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 24, 2020 09:09 AM (kVr0X)



It does.

And thus the universal The New Yorker comic speech caption, which can be used on any true TNY comic,

"I want to kill myself."

applies.


Try it. It's fun.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM (z0XD8)

38 National Library of Ireland, Dublin

That explains the walls that make you feel drunk, right?

[It's okay when I say it; my kids are some big percentage Irish.]

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM (bd376)

39 Andre Norton was the first sci-fi I ever read.

10 years old?

"Star Man's Son" IIRC
Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (T09ml)


I seem to recall reading that one ... mumble .. years ago when I was a teenager. She wasn't my most favorite author but I remember really liking Sargosso in Space (?). Now that I'm over 29, I need to try her Witch World series again.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:17 AM (pJWtt)

40 I've been reading through a collection of Russian short stories downloaded from Gutenberg. They have some themes in common: The apparatus of the State is massively corrupt and inefficient, and will never change; the individual gets crushed by same and there's really nothing to be done about it; and you're going to die. Did we mention you're going to die? Because you totally are, and a ministry official is probably going to bone your wife after the wake. Sleep tight!

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 09:17 AM (BAsqb)

41 I love that photo from 1928. It's interesting for the content but, technically, it is an excellent example of black and white photography.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:17 AM (7EjX1)

42 I read Victorian Entertainment by Alan Delgado. Published in 1971, this is a rather thin volume that surveys how the British during the Victorian era kept themselves entertained. Lots of contemporary illustrations and photographs. The book is primarily devoted to the modes of entertainment popular during the 1850s to 1860s; I would have liked more discussion of the late 19th C. since I was interested in the background surrounding Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. One thing that struck me was how much English society changed during the reign (1837 - 1901) of Queen Victoria: we go from riots and debauchery to the rather staid facade that we popularly consider "Victorian." Rating = 3.75/5.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:11 AM (pJWtt)


You might want to check out Judith Flanders' Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain:

https://tinyurl.com/yazwbbzs

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:18 AM (2JVJo)

43 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:15 AM (cfSRQ

My cousin's husband wrote a book on the Spanish civil war. It was never translated, alas, so I never read it.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:18 AM (ONvIw)

44 I read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. In this novel, Mantel tells a detailed story of the rise of Thomas Cromwell from an abused son of a blacksmith to become the most trusted advisor of Henry VIII. The book covers the years 1500 to 1535 and the death of Thomas More. I think the best writing in the book is the verbal jousting between the two Thomases, Cromwell and More, to save More's life by swearing an oath to support the heir of Henry and Anne Boleyn to the throne. Well-written historical fiction.
Posted by: Zoltan at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (3ugDL)
-----
The miniseries based on the books is also excellent.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:18 AM (4o2K3)

45 Last week I got "Chickens, Gin, and a Maine Friendship", correspondence between EB White and Edmund Ware Smith, mostly during the 1950s and 60s. The two writers were about the same age, well-known for their work, and shared a number of interests. They lived near to each other in Maine but often wrote when on the road for business and used letters rather than phone calls even when both were in state. I like that. The letters aren't earth shaking but do show the evolving relationship between them and give insight into the activities of two writers who can really turn a phrase with humor.
I should have waited for the book to come down in price but to hell with that. I'm enjoying it.
Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (7EjX1)


Thank you so much for this rec. I love E.B. White. His essays are luxurious.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (XxJt1)

46 I've been amusing myself imagining a short story collection of the Horde.

Horde Times:
Tales from the Barrel

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (G546f)

47 After looking and realizing that the books are ebooks. I need a new device for ebooks, my last tablet had an unfortunate last date with the floor. I refuse to read them on my phone due to the small screen size. Any Horde recomendations? On a budget and it would just be for ebooks.

Posted by: Picric at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (nonGu)

48 I read "Astounding" by Alex Nevala-Lee. It's a history of the "Golden Age" of science fiction (circa 1939 - mid 1960's) primarily told through linked biographies of Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, L.Ron Hubbard and (especially) John W. Campbell, Jr. There are many others who appear (L. Sprague de Camp and Theodore Sturgeon are there, and Harlan Ellison and Gene Roddenberry make appearances) but the primary focus is on Campbell.

It's very thorough but very readable--I read it in a day (including at work). Recommended if, like me, that era of science fiction is "your" era.

On a side note, does anyone find it kind of disconcerting when the actual book ends at 55 percent (as this one does)? The rest of it is sources, notes and an index, but still--it seems odd.

Granted, the notes here are very thorough--everything is documented.

Anyway, as I say, recommended.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 24, 2020 09:20 AM (l9m7l)

49 I forgot how to pick up and read

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:21 AM (ZCEU2)

50 OK I know this is the book thread but I'm going to shout in the library from the Michigan dam break flood zone. WTF Wixom lake wasn't drained this year to fix the dam because our crazy TDS raving nutter of an AG told them "no draining for you it would endanger a bivalve"?!? Good thing there was not endangered clams or insects preventing the fixing of the lead pipes in Flint! Meanwhile the Karen of "all shall love me and dispair" came and graced us with her presence and didn't even have the decency to lift the ban on going to the Dump. Can we repurpose the Paul Simon 50 ways song for her and call it 50 ways to kill the public? Covid patients in nursing homes and No Golf for You while black people are dying in Detroit because RACIST, faulty dams to save the endangered bivalves because No Lake is even better for them, no dump let it fester because safer at home with piles of rotting flood soaked house debris. GAH

Posted by: Pirate from the flood zone at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (r7TPp)

51 > I'm almost finished with Booth Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons"

I don't think I ever read any of his adult-oriented books. I enjoyed his "Penrod" children's books a lot when I was a kid.


And now I see that there are "revised" editions of those out that have been made PC. Bah.


Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (mNq/0)

52 I liked Beevor's histories on Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin. Steiner will come.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (9TdxA)

53 I went to the bookmobile link at Atlas Obscura and there's a wonderfully named "Warrington Mechanic's Institution Perambulating Library".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

54 Started "Atrocity Archives" by Charles Stross.

First book in a series of the same name.

VERY interesting.

It's also fun looking at cutting edge tech from 2004.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (T09ml)

55 My cousin's husband wrote a book on the Spanish civil war. It was never translated, alas, so I never read it.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:18 AM (ONvIw)

---
The books I read that have lots of Spanish input seem the least biased. It's sort of like Pinochet in Chile - the locals hate him a lot less than international leftists do.

It's like all the love that Venezuela or Cuba get for being Communist without people actually wanting to live there. Franco's Spain is a bugbear and the "lost Republic" is a dream vessel for their perfect European Communist state that never was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)

56 And now I see that there are "revised" editions of those out that have been made PC. Bah.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (mNq/0)
---
Well even I was taken aback by some of the racial stuff.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 09:23 AM (Dc2NZ)

57 11 Andre Norton was the first sci-fi I ever read.

==

me too!
obe of the first
can't remember the title, but it was about a woman who could create dreams for clients

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:23 AM (G546f)

58 Good morning!

Let's smile and be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:24 AM (u82oZ)

59 > On a budget and it would just be for ebooks.

The black and white (NOT the color models) Kindles are by far the best ebook readers, IMO.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:24 AM (mNq/0)

60 Did almost get Matthew Whittaker's Above the Law, but didn't know my Amazon password.

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:24 AM (ZCEU2)

61 49 I forgot how to pick up and read
Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:21 AM (ZCEU2)

----------

Tolle lege, best recited in a child's voice.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 24, 2020 09:25 AM (kVr0X)

62 Speaking of presidential alternate histories, Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Hillz rejects Bill and achieves greatness without him.

https://amzn.to/2LX0mpI

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 09:25 AM (+y/Ru)

63 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)

He did not go back to Spain until Franco died. He was a social guy with repellant anarchist politics. Joined our navy in WWII, though.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:25 AM (ONvIw)

64 Just before this nonsense started I had taken out State of Fear by Michael Crichton from our library. They've since stopped taking books back and had sent me an email saying "just keep it".

Some good has come out of it all. I got a free, great book. Yay!

Posted by: Pete Seria at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (7ZQe3)

65 18
Nice Lieberry!



Those pants are fine. Would make things difficult for Joe Biden to go all gropey grope however.


The cover is not the book. Don't be confused!



Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (T6t7i)

66 it is called jambiya, after the tribal dagger, common to arabia, the basis of the Kris knife of fremen iconography, which seems to have borrowed elements from chechen as well as berbers where it's called the khanshal, I noted many of these thrillers have titles like Robert moss's mojimbo (named after the village in Nicaragua, where they planned the communist plot) or trevanians shibumi, (named after a go move, popular to the protagonist.

Posted by: gaius martius at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (hMlTh)

67 what I am reading now - The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Magaret MacMillan, whose question, she says, is not so much "why did the war come?" but, considering the century of peace prior to Sarajevo, "why did the peace end?"

https://tinyurl.com/ycosd33d
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (2JVJo)


Unless she is defining "peace" as the absence of world-wide war, her premise is wrong. There were a number of short wars during the 19th C. in Europe after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Those wars remained relatively short and regional. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was certainly expecting the same thing when they invaded Serbia after Archduke Ferdinand's assassination in 1914.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (pJWtt)

68 Speaking of presidential alternate histories, Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Hillz rejects Bill and achieves greatness without him.
-----
So, a drug dream, then?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:27 AM (4o2K3)

69 Just want to wish everyone a good morning!

Posted by: Oblivious at May 24, 2020 09:27 AM (S8BC9)

70 Speaking of Warren Harding, as we were above, I have his bio, one of "The American Presidents" series. A short read, and favorable to Harding; the only fault being that the author is John "Cancer on the Presidency" Dean.

https://tinyurl.com/y79tn2ce

Another good read about the era is Frederick Allen's Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s. Allen was an Atlantic writer and New Dealer, so he has a jaundiced view of Harding and Coolidge, but it's still a good work to get a feel of the popular and intellectual currents of the Jazz Age.

https://tinyurl.com/y9jxh2kt

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:27 AM (2JVJo)

71 And also because Norton is an author I have never gotten around to reading.



Hey, Raplhie boy!

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 24, 2020 09:27 AM (oVJmc)

72 Oh, good, it wasn't me.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 24, 2020 09:28 AM (oVJmc)

73 I hope.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 24, 2020 09:28 AM (oVJmc)

74 And the Barrel claims its first victim of the day.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 24, 2020 09:28 AM (kVr0X)

75 Sup, y'all?
Totally bluebell.

Posted by: Weasel at May 24, 2020 09:29 AM (MVjcR)

76 Cicero- or a old Benedictine monk's

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:29 AM (ZCEU2)

77 64 Just before this nonsense started I had taken out State of Fear by Michael Crichton from our library. They've since stopped taking books back and had sent me an email saying "just keep it".

Some good has come out of it all. I got a free, great book. Yay!
Posted by: Pete Seria at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (7ZQe3)

they don't want it back when they reopen?

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (G546f)

78 Unless she is defining "peace" as the absence of world-wide war, her premise is wrong. There were a number of short wars during the 19th C. in Europe after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Those wars remained relatively short and regional. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was certainly expecting the same thing when they invaded Serbia after Archduke Ferdinand's assassination in 1914.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:26 AM (pJWtt)


She does. She mentions the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian War and the Morocco crisis and so on, but because those were either localized, on the fringes of Europe or involved only two or three countries, she considers them to be blips on the horizon.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (2JVJo)

79 Welp, off to the barrel pour moi.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (2JVJo)

80 I reread the best Doc Savage pulp book: The Fortress of Solitude. Meh. Like all of the book, this has a usual, and stupid, formula. But in this case, Doc Savage makes mistakes. Most unusual.

I wonder if a modern retelling of these Depression era feel-good books can trim some of the stupidity away, and come up with 2020s versions of these tales.

Doc Savage vs. The Deep State as a series?

I credit All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes with making me pull this book from my bookcase. Thank you.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (u82oZ)

81 Hillz rejects Bill and achieves greatness without him.

https://amzn.to/2LX0mpI
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks,

sounds like one of those apocalyptic horror novels

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (G546f)

82 they don't want it back when they reopen?
Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (G546f)
-----
It's got Covid Cooties now.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (4o2K3)

83 52
I liked Beevor's histories on Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin. Steiner will come.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (9TdxA)

---
I'd seen those get good critical reception, but I won't read them now. He plays so fast and loose with the facts that I simply don't trust him.

Here again, Guernica is my litmus test. This guy actually wrote that because the bombers missed the bridge they were targeting, they clearly weren't trying to hit it.

This from a World War II military historian.

Guernica was six miles behind the front line, a major road hub, critical bridge crossing, had three (!) small arms factories and two battalions of troops stationed there, but the only possible reason it got bombed was a "terror attack"?!

WTF.

The Condor Legion was serving as flying artillery, due to the Nationalist shortage of it and the rough terrain. If Franco had the tubes, they would have shelled the town out of existance - just like happened throughout WW II.

Oh, and the bomb load used to "obliterate" this town? Six B-17s could carry more ordnance. In fact, there's some dispute on whether the Germans used Ju-52s (converted transports) or HE-111s.

Anyway, 25 aircraft, rudimentary bomb sights, no dive bombers. They've verified 200 civilian deaths because a shelter took a direct hit, but Beevor persists in using the insane figure of 1,600+ dead.

No, I won't trust him on anything else.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:31 AM (cfSRQ)

84 Bought the "new" Heinlein yesterday, but haven't started it yet. It's in the queue.

This is is supposedly an alternate version of The Number of the Beast, which wasn't my favorite. I bought it mainly because I own every Heinlein. I don't have any great hopes for it.



Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM (mNq/0)
+++++

WHAT WHAT WHERE WHERE?????

Details or it ain't true.........

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:31 AM (T09ml)

85 You might want to check out Judith Flanders' Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain:

https://tinyurl.com/yazwbbzs
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:18 AM (2JVJo)


Thanks for the recommendation. Well, I have to sign-off: must build some bookshelves for the new house.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 24, 2020 09:31 AM (pJWtt)

86 77: Probably will. My grandson still has all his pre-lockdown library books, but has no interest in them. I don't see why I can buy used books bur not borrow books. The lockdown is bullshit.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:32 AM (ONvIw)

87 Read "Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War" by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. If you think it bad under quarantine, read this book. Compare to soldier In Afghanistan , you are in paradise.

Posted by: redmonkey at May 24, 2020 09:32 AM (KL1FG)

88 Picric, I do most of my reading on a 10" tablet. It was around $300. I have a 7" tablet also but as you said, screen size is crucial. My neighbor's hubby gave her a small Kindle but it's not very impressive if you ask me. And I don't think you can read Nook (B N) books on it.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (XxJt1)

89 I've been amusing myself imagining a short story collection of the Horde.



Horde Times:

Tales from the Barrel

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (G546f)

---
Children of the Kaboom.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

90 Carry over from the last thread re: Lake of the Ozarks trending on Twatter b/c of a big party. The "elites" are apoplectic about it. LotO is a place where every Karen and Kyle would lose their minds. Lots of new money, over powered boats*, and insane floating party's referred to as the "party cove". Topless women, day drinking and unspeakable acts performed out in the open.
*On weekend days, don't even go out if you're not driving a 30 ftr. The lake gets so churned up, the chop will eat you alive. I don't think Meggie Mac or S.E. D-Cupp will be down at Osage Beach any time soon.
Missouri has said GFY to the Kung Flu Karen's.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (7Fj9P)

91 First SF was by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter of Mars. Soon followed by the Heinlein juveniles. And I was hooked.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (u82oZ)

92 Tried to find the pants pic on-line. Fail.

Even tried typing in the whole sentence. Pr0n.

Everything comes up pr0n these days though.

Posted by: Dennis Moore at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (AHq56)

93 they don't want it back when they reopen?
Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (G546f)
-----
It's got Covid Cooties now.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (4o2K3)


A couple of weeks ago I went to a local farm market in Newburyport that sells milk in glass bottles. I was stopped at the door and told they don't accept returned bottles anymore.

I said, "but you're not keeping them - you're sending them back to the dairy to be sterilized!"

Nope. Still wouldn't take them because of the Kung Flu.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

94 41
I love that photo from 1928. It's interesting for the content but,
technically, it is an excellent example of black and white photography.

One wonders what they'd have thought if they'd known what was going to happen in the next 20-odd years: depression, world wars, the birth of Yoko Ono.



Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (T6t7i)

95
Wait, the Irish can read?

When did this happen?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (pNxlR)

96 No idea who the "Who Dis?" might be today but that photograph is outstanding! Just love it. Hope whomever that is has the picture framed and on display in her home library.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, hunker in the bunker at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (NVYyb)

97 First SF was "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" by RAH.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (PiwSw)

98 I read a pretty good murder mystery, Blood of Others, by Rick Mofina. After working from home for a few weeks, I started going back to the office. So I listened to Captains Courageous audiobook on my commute. I am now rereading Voyage of the Dawn Treader, after picking up a good deal on the kindle edition recently.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (RJscS)

99 > WHAT WHAT WHERE WHERE?????


The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes by Robert A. Heinlein and David Weber.

The 'zon has it in both Kindle and hardcover format right now. Presumably paperback will be coming out later.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (mNq/0)

100 So, my local library called and said the book I had on hold was in. I said, "What book on hold?" They said the book I put on hold last September. Like I'm supposed to remember that?


Anyway, I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag. And this is in WI, where restrictions have been lifted. I swear, all librarians are named Karen.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (lwiT4)

101 Horde Times:

Tales from the Barrel

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (G546f)

---
Children of the Kaboom.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)


I Love You, Mary B. Cloggenstein.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (2JVJo)

102 This is is supposedly an alternate version of The Number of the Beast, which wasn't my favorite. I bought it mainly because I own every Heinlein. I don't have any great hopes for it.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM (mNq/0)

Number of the Beast is just bad. Stopped reading it when they zap through into the yellow brick road world. Also had that weird incest vibe.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (BAsqb)

103 For whatever reason, this wasn't a good week for reading. Who knows why but it just wasn't. I managed to finish Nikolai Gogol's first collection of tales: Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka Part 1, which were mostly based on Ukrainian folk tales he got his mother to send him in Saint Petersburg to give him ideas on what to write about that people in the city might find interesting. Even though this is standard folk tales fare, including lots of witches and devils at night and joos and gypsies are conniving lowlifes at country fairs, you can start to see the beginnings of his more mature narrative style of throwing in odd minor characters strangely juxtaposed against what's going on.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 09:36 AM (y7DUB)

104 My arm is bad today, so I won't type much.

(Waits for cheers to die down.)

Finally opened my birthday box from Naval and Military Press. Of course, I am constitutionally unable to have delved deeply, much, because I'm still switching back and forth. I am also constitutionally bad at remembering authors and titles which are new to me. But, that said...

The only land one is about Roberts in the 2nd Afghan War. Always interesting, as it is a counterexample to the "no one beats Afghanistan" line. He did. Of course one reason is that Britain wasn't interested in "nation building", but only in being sure that the wrong (pro Russian) guy didn't end up on top. That and avenging the murder of some of their people.

What's a bit off-putting is how a bit of PC seeps in. Not that the author is an SJW, but there is some hand-wringing over Bobs's retrograde views. E.g., he believed there were "martial races". Racism! (He fails to point out that, in the line quoted, Roberts referred to Scots, Gurkhas, and Sikhs. Of which only one was Euro.)

Another is his hanging under martial law, of many Afghans in Kabul. Maybe a bit over 100. Jus' like Hitler.

And Roberts (sit down and brace yourself) believed in British Imperialism. That a Victorian general could think that just staggers the mind. The 21st century mind, anyway. If "mind" is the right word.

Again, the author isn't really that sort. But it's an example of how contemporary assumptions and attitudes can seep in on one, unawares.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:37 AM (ZbwAu)

105 Wait, the Irish can read?

When did this happen?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (pNxlR)

All those books are in Gaelic, so....

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 09:37 AM (X/Pw5)

106 The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes by Robert A. Heinlein and David Weber.

The 'zon has it in both Kindle and hardcover format right now. Presumably paperback will be coming out later.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM

+++++

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:37 AM (T09ml)

107 Anyway, I got to listen to the Basque perspective on the wars for many years. His goal and that of his separatist friends, was to have autonomy. He said he desperately wanted Franco to link up with Hitler, he thought a defeat would get him his country. I think that was the premise of his book.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:38 AM (ONvIw)

108 vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times

We have so many stories here. You have a good idea. Run with it!

Ace can be his own book. {i]The Hobo Hunter rides a Vespa.

Killer with a Message Bag. It's European culture.

Bomb-proof Shelves as Apartment Armor.

Bloggers of Gor, Slave Women of the Bronx.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:38 AM (u82oZ)

109 Morning Bookists! TY OM!

Finished 'Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors' by Hornfisher, which I had been saving for a decade or so. I don't get emotional all that often for history books... but, My God, over and over the past week, I had to put it down and collect myself. Outstanding book.

I agree with the Beevor assessment - his Ardennes book is chock full of errors and poor assessments, in my opinion. Don't trust him.

Have a good week, all.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 24, 2020 09:38 AM (iUjXP)

110 MP4, I have a question for you. YouTube keeps recommending video "proving" so-and-so was Jack the Ripper. Is there any consensus now on who it actually was.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:39 AM (XxJt1)

111 Did almost get Matthew Whittaker's Above the Law, but didn't know my Amazon password.

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:24 AM (ZCEU2)

===========
NSA Bob keeps all my passwords for me. Check with him, I bet he can help you out.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, hunker in the bunker at May 24, 2020 09:39 AM (NVYyb)

112 > Horde Times:

Tales from the Barrel

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (G546f)

---
Children of the Kaboom.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

I Love You, Mary B. Cloggenstein.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

Not Without My Fucksock

The AoS Home Healthcare Guide: How to Slap a Hot Iron to It.

1001 Recipes for a Dead Hobo

Cooking with Valu-Rite

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:39 AM (mNq/0)

113
Read Mammoth by John Varley....which was recommended by some Moron or two here on this world famous book thread. Good escapist fun. Which I needed in the plague year 2020.


Now reading Friday by Heinlein....a couple chapters in....pretty good so far....hope He doesn't go off the rails on the sex stuff like he did with Stranger in a Strange Land.... grrrrr

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at May 24, 2020 09:40 AM (tME7d)

114 At 11 I remember Star Mans Son . Great story and the rats taking over The nuked city were cool! But remember the hero was a Scandi.

Posted by: Dread0 at May 24, 2020 09:40 AM (OpxKI)

115 My brother and I came home from work at McClellan AFB on that fateful day in 1989 and with disbelief watched the Wall in Berlin coming down on the TeeVee....looked at each other and said ... "There goes our jobs!!!"

And there went out jobs at McClellan AFB.

For the record, my Cold War job was rewinding aircraft generators at that time.

Posted by: torabora at May 24, 2020 09:41 AM (ivSG+)

116 Wait, the Irish can read?

When did this happen?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (pNxlR)


Unpossible. I've always assumed Gaelic is some ur language drunks use to mutter incomprehensibly.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 09:41 AM (y7DUB)

117 Is there any consensus now on who it actually was.


Posted by: creeper


Not MP4, but if memory serves, they have confirmed it was the Polish (?) immigrant loon based on DNA evidence from the crime scene. The original DNA testing was botched, so it got murky for awhile, but I believe that's been resolved.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 09:42 AM (T6t7i)

118 Barely ot but store trip shortly ago this everyone stay away 6 feet has taken hold well. Everyone, and mean everyone stays away that 6 feet if you are in the spot they want to be until you vacate it by 6 feet.
We have ended every communicable disease from now on.

Oh, of course except sexual and AIDS, those can't be in anyway stopped, Fauci has thought about it 40 years and has no idea how.

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 09:42 AM (ZCEU2)

119 13 4: Mrs Peacock! Nice to have some more modern people included just for the wonderful picture.
Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 09:07 AM (ONvIw)

It's not just Mrs. Peacock; it's Mrs. Peacock, in the Library, with a Knife!

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 09:42 AM (V2Yro)

120 torabora

My career path died the day the Soviets quit. Had to reinvent myself. Promotion chances in my year group vaporized.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:42 AM (u82oZ)

121 Also been rereading some Waugh* essays from the 60s, on the Church. It might surprise people that he likes Pope John, and blames Pius XII for many of the "reforms". I think he was getting exasperated with Paul VI, too, but died before that could fully flower.

*I thus avoid last week's mistake.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (ZbwAu)

122 79 Welp, off to the barrel pour moi.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:30 AM (2JVJo)
--
Maybe there's a library down there.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (Dc2NZ)

123 The Pursuit of the Pankera


Ordered.

Thanks again, Rodrigo.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (T09ml)

124 First SF was "The Runaway Robot" by Lester del Rey. I still have the Scholastic Book Services edition.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (l9m7l)

125 Wait, the Irish can read?

When did this happen?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 24, 2020

+++++

Before the English.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (T09ml)

126 Maybe there's a library down there.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes


I'm not sure 3 damp copies of He-Man Sewage Monthly qualifies as a library, but sure.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 09:44 AM (T6t7i)

127 Thank you, pep. Now I don't have to slog through all those videos trying to figure out which one isn't click bait.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:45 AM (XxJt1)

128 Have a great day, everyone. Chores await.

May every light turn green on your way home today.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 24, 2020 09:46 AM (u82oZ)

129 "As she attempts to convince the British Commander that she is not the missing royal, she finds she must also convince him that the attraction that crackles between them is forbidden, and for more reasons than one."

okay I have never heard of this book before, and know nothing about it; but allow me to present a speculation on the plot: it's forbidden because, as Austin Powers would say, "She's a Man, baby!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 09:46 AM (V2Yro)

130 I've been binge reading the Nightside series by Simon R Green. Urban fantasy crossed with noir. They're fun but in some ways the books are all alike. One compelling feature of the series is the hero's relationship with his father's oldest friend, now his frenemy, a mysterious mentor figure who is the representative of authority in the Nightside; I am a sucker for mysterious authority figures acting as mentors.

Posted by: Dr Alice at May 24, 2020 09:47 AM (g6mG9)

131 Also been rereading some Waugh* essays from the 60s,
on the Church. It might surprise people that he likes Pope John, and
blames Pius XII for many of the "reforms". I think he was getting
exasperated with Paul VI, too, but died before that could fully flower.



*I thus avoid last week's mistake.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (ZbwAu)

---
*Nods approvingly*

In my book, I quoted extensively from Churchill's assessment of the Spanish Civil War, to wit that he didn't like the Nationalists, but the Republicans would have had him and his family killed.

Waugh had a similar opinion and IIRC was one of only a couple of writers who refused to publicly support the Republic.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

132 Started "Atrocity Archives" by Charles Stross.

First book in a series of the same name.

VERY interesting.

It's also fun looking at cutting edge tech from 2004.
Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 09:22 AM (T09ml)



Most of the time it's a fun series but somewhat uneven.

Esp, when Stross gets more interested in prancing about displaying his anti-Americanism and anti-religion credentials instead of just telling the damn story.

It doesn't happen often *cough*The Apocalypse Codex*cough* -

but when it does, it just so boring and tiresome.


Stross is kind of an interesting case. A socialist true believer, who I think is too smart not to see the utter failure of socialism.

So his "socialism" defaults to anti-Americanism, anti-Christianity, anti-Deplorables posturing.

Anyway, most of the"Laundery Files" are fun and well-written, enjoy.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 24, 2020 09:48 AM (z0XD8)

133 First SF was "The Runaway Robot" by Lester del Rey. I still have the Scholastic Book Services edition.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 24, 2020 09:43 AM (l9m7l)
-----
I had that edition, too! Mine's long gone, though.

Still wish I had my SBS edition of "The Mad Scientist's Club".

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:48 AM (4o2K3)

134 RE: Pierce and King.

Pierce and King counties in Washington were named for them. Pierce because it was determined to be the Northern Pacific railroad terminus and thus anticipated to have the biggest and most important city in the territory and eventual state. King county was just north.

Thing is, Pierce county contains Tacoma and King has Seattle; so things didn't turn out quite the way everyone anticipated.

Back in the 90's King county "renamed" itself after MLK Jr. Which is probably the silliest piece of virtue-signalling I've ever seen.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020 09:49 AM (ijEPD)

135 Thanks for sharing the $0.99 Book Sale, Oregon Muse, and thanks to everyone supporting indie authors.

I loved The Runaway Robot - fun book. I'll also second the recommendation for Only Yesterday - a good social and political history of the 1920s written at the time, before it had a chance to be reinterpreted for ideological reasons.

I use an Amazon Fire Tablet to read ebooks - relatively inexpensive because it's ad supported. You can pay a bit more and get an ad-free version.

Eric Hamilton's Inconvenient Presidency is Groundhog Day meets Election Day with Al Gore having to re-live his presidency over and over again until he can figure out how to throw the election to George W. Bush. A clever concept, well-executed.

I've been reading Rob Kroese's Counterfeit Sorcerer series - some excellent fantasy.

I'm also partway through Eccentric Lives and Peculiar notions, a recommendation from last week. Very interesting.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at May 24, 2020 09:49 AM (FXjhj)

136 115 My brother and I came home from work at McClellan AFB on that fateful day in 1989 and with disbelief watched the Wall in Berlin coming down on the TeeVee....looked at each other and said ... "There goes our jobs!!!""

This anecdote explains perfectly why the CIA and all of top levels of our Military establishment never saw the Soviet Collapse coming, and never wanted it to come.

And even now, they still hate Reagan for it.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 09:50 AM (V2Yro)

137 MP4, I have a question for you. YouTube keeps recommending video "proving" so-and-so was Jack the Ripper. Is there any consensus now on who it actually was.
Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 09:39 AM (XxJt1)


Getting Ripperologists to come to a consensus is like herding cats. So many people have their own hobbyhorses and can't be convinced otherwise.

However, if there is one "consensus" candidate, it's a fellow named Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew who died in an asylum in 1919. He's considered the best suspect because Donald Swanson (the Yard man in charge of the entire Ripper investigation) wrote "Kosminksi was the suspect" in his copy of another policeman's memoirs, and as Swanson was the big man, most authors have accepted - with caveats - that AK was the Ripper. The theory was first put forth in Paul Begg's 1988 book Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts.*

I've found that most videos these days go for Kosminski as Saucy Jack.

*if I were going to recommend a book, it would be the late Philip Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, even though he believes the poisoner George Chapman most likely to have been the killer.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:50 AM (2JVJo)

138 Those pants are fine. I would pull them on up over my face and wear them to cower in my back yard.

Posted by: Man without a chest at May 24, 2020 09:51 AM (Tnijr)

139 Who Dis:


It's Brian Dennehy as Eileen Brennan and as the knife and as the bookcase in Clue. It was one of his better roles

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (jLl4C)

140 Mr: Trashbag: I love the Laundry Files series. Hope you enjoy. The second one, IMHO, is the weakest of the series but overall they are great fun.

Posted by: Dr Alice at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (g6mG9)

141 The Time Traders was my first Andre Norton novel. Juvenile delinquent volunteers for a project that involves a base in the Arctic where people are trained to go back in time, blend with the locals and recover a crashed alien spaceship.
Only problem, the Russians are trying to do the same. And the aliens are, too.
Great read for a young male teen. I think I'll read the series again.

Posted by: RI Red at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (ebxKR)

142 Franklin Pierce - didn't Joan Crawford do a biopic of him, but she played him as a drag queen? Well I guess that's why the gay community has always idolized her.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (V2Yro)

143 Stross is kind of an interesting case. A socialist
true believer, who I think is too smart not to see the utter failure of
socialism.



So his "socialism" defaults to anti-Americanism, anti-Christianity, anti-Deplorables posturing.



Anyway, most of the"Laundery Files" are fun and well-written, enjoy.



Posted by: naturalfake at May 24, 2020 09:48 AM (z0XD

---
One of the most maddening aspects of Hugh Thomas' book is that he can't seem to understand how the Anarchists' self-governing communes didn't work, let alone prove capable of sustaining a war effort.

But, but it's so beautiful a concept!

I give Thomas a pass now (I hated on him here before) because he is very useful as a resource. He's got tons of information, and I consult him often.

But his analysis is really daft at times. He can't quite connect that the Republic imposing massive mandatory pay raises, cutting worker hours and of course collectivising the means of production might possibly lead to massive price inflation AND falling productivity.

It's a mystery!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (cfSRQ)

144 I like Andre Norton! Quite a few of her books are available on Project Gutenberg.

Also. Years ago, I was in Florida for a two-week training class. Over the intervening weekend, I drove up to St. Augustine to see the fort, the Fountain of Youth, the lighthouse, etc. It was pretty cool. While walking from one place to another, I spotted a used bookstore and went in to browse. I found a couple of Andre Norton books and decided to buy them. Flipping through them, I noticed that one was autographed by the author! The bookstore apparently didn't know that, as they sold it to me for the same 50 cents or a dollar as the other.

Of course, it very well may not be a genuine autograph. I've never bothered to get it authenticated, as I can't imagine it would be worth much. But I did learn that Andre Norton lived near Orlando, not that far from St. Augustine, for about thirty years, so I like to imagine she stopped in that bookstore one day, surreptitiously signed her own work, and years later, I bought it. (The timeline doesn't really work for this because it was a good twenty years after she left Florida, but don't ruin it for me.)

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at May 24, 2020 09:54 AM (rWZ8Y)

145 Guernica was certainly an arms-trading center, and the old commie line about "bombing on market day" plasters over the fact that one of the open-air markets there was in automatic weapons.

Chinese warlords used to send purchasing agents to that region to obtain side-arms, and, speaking of side-arms, the fully automatic pistols that originated there (and placed in the hands of totally untrained rural Chinese gunners) were probably the source of the "ghetto side-hand" firing position.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 24, 2020 09:54 AM (8IOEj)

146 The Wall fell 2 days before I checked onto my first ship. Within a couple of months we were declared to be decommissioned in 1991. The "peace dividend" was quick, brutal, and put the "600-ship Navy" out of reach almost right when we achieved it.

We now have less than 300.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020 09:55 AM (ijEPD)

147 and there are extensive sections on how East Germany kept its citizenry
in line, through generally bribing the population whenever possible and
of course through the usual measures of vicious police state tactics,
such as the use of the Stasi.





Sounds familiar

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 24, 2020 09:55 AM (jLl4C)

148 Horde Times:

Men Without Pants. Hi

Posted by: RI Red at May 24, 2020 09:55 AM (ebxKR)

149 I received my second book by Edmund Ware Smith, he of the EB White letters mentioned above. I just started it. This is another collection of his essays, fictional but based on his extensive knowledge of the Maine woods which he loves. But this isn't some idyllic view. Smith can capture the danger and downsides of nature as well as the beauty and the effect it has on the people. He does this with humor and insight. And he can install a bit of a twist. His introduction to an ongoing character, an irrascible older man, and his wife which gradually becomes a love story.

I'm doing doing justice to his writing. These are just my initial reactions and enjoyment with a new to me author.

Smith deserves to be better known for the quality of his writing.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 09:56 AM (7EjX1)

150 'Boudicca And Mavis

The tail of a dancer'--Hope it's a nice tail...
Mornin' Horden.

Posted by: FrodoB-
cause I am at May 24, 2020 09:56 AM (dQF3z)

151 Posted by: Mrs. Peel at May 24, 2020 09:54 AM (rWZ8Y)

I'm reading Time Traders right now.

It's available for $0.00 at the Baen Free Library.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020 09:56 AM (ijEPD)

152 From a recommendation last week, I joined the Free Library of Philadelphia ( free for all PA residents ). Their website was showing about a dozen Heinlein books in audio format which I'd not read. They use 2 seperate E book systems. Overdrive which I'm familiar with from my county library, and Hoopla.

Hoopla has no wait list, but is set to only allow 4 borrows per month. Search categories aren't that good, and apparently the philadelphia system is not linked correctly with hoopla. Many of the books that appeared available from the FLP website were not available.

However, once using the Hoopla website or app, a great selection of non-fiction audio was available. I spent more time browsing than I wanted, but found a good supply of material for commuting time.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 24, 2020 09:57 AM (x8Q/V)

153 I agree with the Beevor assessment - his Ardennes book is chock full of errors and poor assessments, in my opinion. Don't trust him.

Have a good week, all.
Posted by: goatexchange at May 24, 2020 09:38 AM (iUjXP)
______

The question, for me, is whether there is some area where a writer can be trusted. I don't know about Beevor himself, but "falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus" may work in law, it's a lousy approach to history.

2 of the new books bring this out. One is Rome Seizes the Trident, a naval history of the Punic Wars. The author, in the 2nd chapter, discusses this at some length.

The other is They Gave Me A Seafire by a pilot named Crosley (sp? it's downstairs).

It is a mixture of what seems to me excellent coverage of the planes (including other types) themselves, and the actual fighter ops, with grotesque errors every time he steps even an inch outside what he knows firsthand. (Though I'd love to hear what Anna Puma has to say on this.)

It is literally true that there are 3 or 4 flat-out mistakes about surface ships on the 2nd page. (3 or 4 because there is one point which might be argued to be one or 2 errors.) One is that he calls HMS Galatea a "large cruiser".

Uh, no. She was one of the SMALLEST class they built after WWI, which was specifically designed as the smallest useful design. And there are tons of those. He cannot even be relied on to discuss naval AA.

There's also a flaw I expected. Like so many other Anglo-American authors, he's got a bad case of "the grass is always greener" syndrome. When I was young, it was routine to see the Panther, the Zero, and the Bismarck all treated as super-weapons. I've noticed that Germans don't do that; they prefer to brag about their hardware and doctrine. Enough to wonder how they lost. They tend to excuse in on numbers.

(I've been glad to see recently there has been pushback against the idea that Sherman tanks were crap, for instance.)

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:57 AM (ZbwAu)

154 Finished 'Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors' by Hornfisher, which I had been saving for a decade or so. I don't get emotional all that often for history books... but, My God, over and over the past week, I had to put it down and collect myself. Outstanding book.

-
Definitely a two tissue box book.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 09:58 AM (+y/Ru)

155 I'm not quite old enough to have remembered the wall going up. I've always been curious as to the engineering involved, how the commies put it up in one night. And I am old enough to remember when it came down.

I remember when it went up. It was fucked up and I remember thinking Fuzznuts JFK wasn't gonna do anything good except deliver some dogshit speech where he called himself a jelly donut and our enemedia started spanking it like he really was smart and sophisticated. Such fucking rubes...

Speaking of fuzznut rubes, when Ken Burns did his Jazz series he typically only saw things in black and white and completely ignored the German Free Jazz movement that was one long primal scream against the wall. They were pissed as hell at being separated and one record label, FMP, actively promoted surreptitious meetings of the musical minds. It's primarily known only to musical obsessives like me who like that noise and Kenny boy completely fucked up informing people about something that was much more contemporary at the time.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (y7DUB)

156 The War that Ended Peace is pretty good. It gives a lot of detail that something like Guns of August or A World Undone has to skip over to keep things moving. On the other hand she lets her opinions of current events bleed into the text and that kind of detracts from the narrative (lots of comparison between Kaiser Bill and Bush 43 for instance).

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (3DZIZ)

157 145
Guernica was certainly an arms-trading center, and the old commie line
about "bombing on market day" plasters over the fact that one of the
open-air markets there was in automatic weapons.



Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 24, 2020 09:54 AM (8IOEj)

---
Yeah, did the Communists ever stand down for "market day?"

The Astra factory was located there, also two other concerns, one of which made those cool C96 knockoffs you referenced.

A lot of those were used during the war. I've got a stock for my C96 and it is really neat and easy to shoot with it. Obviously, it's not select fire, but if you want compact firepower, it's a great option - especially considering that your alternative was a heavy bolt-action rifle.

The C96 takes 10-round stripper clips. The Spanish copies got detachable box magazines that held up to 20 rounds.

So you get lighter, more compact, more ammo, lighter ammo, and the only downside is less hitting power, but those .30 cal bullets had a lot of heat on them. I can see why people wanted them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

158 An excess of time spent with tvtropes.com* led me to want to reread a James Bond novel. I chose "Diamonds Are Forever" because I remembered little of the plot other than that it was completely different from the movie.

I got the book through archive.org (highly recommended!).

I had read all the Bond books during high school and had enjoyed them. This time? More of a slog.

In 25 chapters: A diamond smuggling ring is introduced. Bond is assigned to infiltrate and uncover the smugglers. Bond takes the place of the intended smuggler and meets his contact, Tiffany Case, a beautiful but broken woman. Bond brings diamonds to New York City. Bond goes to Saratoga to get paid through a rigged horse race. Bond's pal Felix Leiter, retired from the CIA because of injuries and now with Pinkerton Detective Agency, foxes the rigged race by bribing a jockey -- no money for Bond. Two hit men for the gang wreak retribution on the jockey through the use of superheated mud. The gang sends Bond to Las Vegas, where he gets his money through a rigged blackjack game (Case is the dealer). The gang kidnaps Bond and takes him to a ghost town owned and restored by one of the gang bosses. Bond undergoes a "Brooklyn stomping" by the Saratoga hit men, wearing cleats. Case helps Bond escape on a railroad handcar -- that's the term, although it uses fuel. A gang boss comes after Bond and Case on a restored steam engine and meets a fiery end, with the aid of Bond's bullets. Leiter gets Bond and Case out of the country aboard the Queen Elizabeth II. The hit men from Saratoga, also on the liner, kidnap Case. Bond rescues Case and kills the hit men. Bond and Case have sex. Bond installs Case in his apartment, then goes to western Africa, where the other gang boss is conveniently eliminating the smuggling pipeline. Bond shoots down the gang boss' helicopter. The end.

This needed 25 chapters?

Fleming devotes a lot of text to Bond's thoughts about Case. A whole chapter is used for a newspaper column on how Saratoga once crawled with gangsters, but they've all left in the wake of the Kefauver hearings. (Not so, Leiter asserts.) Bond sees the hit men on the ship but doesn't recognize them -- although he has described them earlier to Leiter. C'mon, man!

I think Fleming was still feeling his journalistic oats with all this extraneous matter. On the other hand, maybe that's what makes a Bond book.

I have a book by Fleming about the real-life hunt for diamond smugglers in the 1950s. Title? "The Diamond Smugglers." When I read it, I'm going to look for influences on the Bond book.

* About tvtropes: This is a website devoted to common features found in all sorts of media -- "Crooked Cop," for example. You can search by trope or title. Warning: This site will chew a lot of time if you let it. Loads of links. Also great fun.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (u/nim)

159 MP4, thanks for the Ripper info. pep mentioned DNA evidence. I was surprised at that.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:01 AM (XxJt1)

160 One of the first sci-fi books I ever loved as a yute was Andre Norton's "Daybreak-2250 AD" (also issued Star Man's Son, 2250) It follows a young barbarian from a forest tribe who travels on a quest to visit the ruins of a vast, ancient ruined city, which you come to realize was New York. It was a very good book, and really created that entire genre, which later led to things like "Thundarr the Barbarian".

okay I don't mean to blame that one on Norton, but I did love it when it was on.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (V2Yro)

161 Number of the Beast is just bad. Stopped reading it when they zap through into the yellow brick road world. Also had that weird incest vibe.
Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020


*
*

It is horribly long and discursive, even for later-stage Heinlein. SF fans I knew at the time (around 1980) all thought Heinlein had completely lost his storytelling ability. Turned out he had a benign brain tumor that was affecting his concentration.

Once it was gone, he bounced back hard with Friday and Job: A Comedy of Justice, two of his very best.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (rpbg1)

162 Shit, when I started the previous post the comments hadn't begun!

Also, Who Dis looks like Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock in "Clue."

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (u/nim)

163 Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 09:58 AM (+y/Ru)

There's a reason it's on the Navy's professional reading list for all ranks and rates.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (ijEPD)

164 Ahoy, bookfagz!

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (NWiLs)

165 *Nods approvingly*

In my book, I quoted extensively from Churchill's assessment of the Spanish Civil War, to wit that he didn't like the Nationalists, but the Republicans would have had him and his family killed.

Waugh had a similar opinion and IIRC was one of only a couple of writers who refused to publicly support the Republic.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)
______

T S Eliot refused to take sides. IIRC, Yeats was openly pro-Franco. And remember, Yeats was not a Catholic. Not only had he abandoned Christianity, but he was of Protestant stock anyway. The latter is often forgotten. There were quite a few famous Irish Prots. Roberts, whom I mention above, was one. So was Wellington. And Burke. I think that ALL of Yeats's Seven Sages were Protestant.

(Look up the poem. It's short. And despite being Yeats, it's not NSFW. No swans with feathered glories. And it's a type of conservatism of which I know no contemporary examples.)

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:03 AM (ZbwAu)

166 P.S. I remember Swanson from "The News from Whitechapel", MP4.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:03 AM (XxJt1)

167 The "elites" are apoplectic about it. LotO is a place where every Karen and Kyle would lose their minds

It's kind of the mirror image of Kevin Bacon's Animal House scene: "why aren't you panicking?! All is deadly!"

Posted by: t-bird at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM (1vynn)

168 Anyone read Sherman's memoirs?

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM (X/Pw5)

169 Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (u/nim)

Funny you should mention Diamonds Are Forever, since I read it myself a few days ago and hated it. Not just because it's a lousy book, but it was the first Fleming novel that really brought home to me the fact that he could not write in any other voice than the superior Englishman - all of his characters, even the Americans, talk like public school Englishmen. Felix Leiter is about as much as Texan as David Lloyd George.

Live and Let Die is a much better story.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM (2JVJo)

170 Horde Times:

Incorgnito: Return of the Corgis

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:05 AM (T09ml)

171 okay, gotta go mow a yard before a big rain sets in this afternoon. c'ya!

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 10:05 AM (V2Yro)

172 Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (u/nim)
------
Thanks for the summary. Interesting to see how many book elements made it into the movie, even though they decided to do a completely different plot.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:05 AM (4o2K3)

173 Almost finished with To Wake The Giant by Jeff Shaara. It's his new release focused on the events leading up to and during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He's one of my favorite authors and I've always appreciated how he will select a few historical characters and base the narrative on their perspectives. I have to admit that after having read everything he has authored, his writing has become a bit predictable but still remains enjoyable.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 24, 2020 10:05 AM (EgshT)

174 Horde Times:

Get A Long Little Doggie by Zane Corgi

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:05 AM (T09ml)

175 Weak Geek, no, Diamonds Are Forever is not Fleming's best novel. Reviews and sales of it and his previous 3 had been weak, so Fleming pulled out all the stops for From Russia, With Love, his best-written and most "spy"-like novel. He had determined to leave the story on a cliffhanger, letting the reader conclude Bond was dead.

I don't know what convinced him to change his mind. It wasn't the "endorsement" by JFK.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:06 AM (rpbg1)

176 The question, for me, is whether there is some area
where a writer can be trusted. I don't know about Beevor himself, but
"falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus" may work in law, it's a lousy
approach to history.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:57 AM (ZbwAu)

---
First-person accounts always get a pass because they are writing what they know.

In "To War in a Stringbag" the author notes that naval aviators had special insignia to warn sailors that they knew nothing about ships and could be safely ignored off the flight deck.

Far more insidious is when you see a historian omit information that undercuts their case - information that is widely available.

This is where the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect kicks in. If I know the author has it wrong in the stuff I *can* verify, why would I trust the stuff I can't?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:06 AM (cfSRQ)

177 165: The anarchists were bastards, cousin's husband was unapologetic and pretty pro-terrorism in achieving his aim. The basques I met supported Arafat and the PLO types.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 10:07 AM (ONvIw)

178 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:02 AM (rpbg1)

Beast was the first of his I tried to read - which put me off Heinlein for over a decade.

But I went back and tried him again; this time with Starship Troopers. Glad to say, he took that time. I think I've read every novel he's written, even Beast. Those later world-as-myth/Lazarus Long books are definitely not his best, and neither is Stranger - I don't like that book at all.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020 10:07 AM (ijEPD)

179 Horde Times:

You Are Corgially Invited!

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:07 AM (T09ml)

180 MP4, thanks for the Ripper info. pep mentioned DNA evidence. I was surprised at that.
Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:01 AM (XxJt1)


It's been a long time since I was fully up on the Whitechapel Murders, but what I think pep was referring to was a woman's shawl supposedly belonging to murder victim Catherine Eddowes. I know that DNA typing has been done on the shawl, but to the best of my knowledge, it hasn't been cross-referenced to any of Aaron Kosminski's family (though I could be , and probably am) wrong. As well, the chain of custody of the shawl is very suspect, so I wouldn't say the case is closed just yet.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:07 AM (2JVJo)

181 Stross is kind of an interesting case. A socialist true believer, who I think is too smart not to see the utter failure of socialism.

So his "socialism" defaults to anti-Americanism, anti-Christianity, anti-Deplorables posturing.

Anyway, most of the"Laundery Files" are fun and well-written, enjoy.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 24, 2020 09:48 AM (z0XD


Stross's bullshit eventually drove me away which was too bad because I thought he had some good ideas.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 10:08 AM (y7DUB)

182 re: Jack the Ripper.
I spoke too soon. Here is a reasonable summary of the DNA evidence as it now exists. It doesn't mean Kosminski isn't Jack, but apparently there is still a controversy. I suspect there always will be.

https://tinyurl.com/y5yubsmg

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:08 AM (T6t7i)

183 Wellington resisted being described as "Irish". As he acidly put it, "Being born in a barn does not make one a horse."

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:08 AM (4o2K3)

184 P.S. I remember Swanson from "The News from Whitechapel", MP4.
Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:03 AM (XxJt1)


You bought that?!? Thank you!!

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:09 AM (2JVJo)

185 142 Franklin Pierce - didn't Joan Crawford do a biopic of him, but she played him as a drag queen? Well I guess that's why the gay community has always idolized her.
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (V2Yro)
---
Franklin Fierce is a lost pre-Code gem, IMHO.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 10:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

186 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I've been disappointed by pretty much ALL of Fleming's James Bond novels. Casino Royale depends on a weird deus ex machina to get JB out of certain death. Spy Who Loved Me is a weird soft porn novel about a young woman in Canada. Moonraker is utterly silly. Even Goldfinger contains a logical howler which the movie lampshades: even if you can crack open the gold vault, how the hell can you move it all?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:10 AM (/OGwR)

187 168
Anyone read Sherman's memoirs?

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM (X/Pw5)

---
Yep. Good read.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:10 AM (cfSRQ)

188 I wouldn't say the case is closed just yet.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:07 AM (2JVJo)

And maybe that's as it should be. What would life be without mystery?

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:11 AM (XxJt1)

189 169 Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 09:59 AM (u/nim)

Funny you should mention Diamonds Are Forever, since I read it myself a few days ago and hated it. Not just because it's a lousy book, but it was the first Fleming novel that really brought home to me the fact that he could not write in any other voice than the superior Englishman - all of his characters, even the Americans, talk like public school Englishmen. Felix Leiter is about as much as Texan as David Lloyd George.

Live and Let Die is a much better story.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM (2JVJo)
_______

Something to that. But trying to write in a foreign voice can be worse. When Conan Doyle tries to write American, the results are embarrassing.

Mencken once said that Wodehouse was the only Brit who could write American English.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:12 AM (ZbwAu)

190 It's like all the love that Venezuela or Cuba get
for being Communist without people actually wanting to live there.
Franco's Spain is a bugbear and the "lost Republic" is a dream vessel
for their perfect European Communist state that never was.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)


They say that history belongs to the victors, but in fact history belongs to those that commission the history books.


Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 10:12 AM (WyVLE)

191 168
Anyone read Sherman's memoirs?

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 10:04 AM

+++ Yes. Good book, but Grant's is better.

BTW, the History Channel has a series about Grant starting this week.

A must watch for this Grantophile.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:12 AM (T09ml)

192 And maybe that's as it should be. What would life be without mystery?
Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:11 AM (XxJt1)
-----
The reason why JRRT was coy about who/what Tom Bombadil was.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:13 AM (4o2K3)

193 Even Goldfinger contains a logical howler which the movie lampshades: even if you can crack open the gold vault, how the hell can you move it all?

That's where the movie improves on the book. Why move the gold when you can just irradiate it?

I haven't read all of the Fleming Bonds, but IMO, From Russia With Love - once you get past the interminable opening - is good and Live and Let Die is much better than the movie.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:13 AM (2JVJo)

194 I still have problems reading post op so I have been listening. On the Dean Koontz Anonymous serious. They are short about 1:15 novellas. Fun reads (listens) with no real value.

oh yeah! Now my phone decided not to play Kindle audible books. 5 YO tablet audible is fine. Deleted reinstalled reboot updated by no fucking audible in my Kindle app.

Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:13 AM (JFO2v)

195 In Berlin Downfall, Beevor spends time on how nearly every German woman from twelve to sixty got raped by the advancing Red Army. Stalin approved for many reasons, including as a sure way to emasculate German men for a generation or more. And spoils of war for the boychiks

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (9TdxA)

196 The latest edition of Edmund Ware Smith's books I received is another of those leather-bound, limited run copies. These are beautiful examples of book binding and make the books a physical pleasure to hold and read. I mentioned last week I have a number of books that fall into this category, accumulated over time and found with luck. Beyond the physical aspect, I realized part of their appeal is that they stand against the ephemeral nature of so much of our culture. I'll skip my usual mini-rant.

E-books and readers have many advantages but they are always a few steps away from ownership. There are some books I want to have literally at hand, not at the mercy of some distant Amazon evil djinn or an electronic nervous breakdown.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (7EjX1)

197 > Stross is kind of an interesting case. A socialist true believer, who I think is too smart not to see the utter failure of socialism.

I liked some of his earlier works, although he was never one of my favorites.

Since he's publicly shown himself to be a world-class prick, who holds me in contempt, I've decided that he won't be getting any more of my money.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (mNq/0)

198 I confess I also ran out of steam on Stross's Laundry series. The self-congratulating SJW bullshit just got too strong.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (/OGwR)

199 Read Mammoth by John Varley....which was recommended by some Moron or two here on this world famous book thread. Good escapist fun. Which I needed in the plague year 2020.


Now reading Friday by Heinlein....a couple chapters in....pretty good so far....hope He doesn't go off the rails on the sex stuff like he did with Stranger in a Strange Land.... grrrrr
Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at May 24, 2020


*
*

Re: Mammoth, I think that recommendation came from me. Glad you enjoyed it. Varley was one of the writers who emerged in the '70s who didn't ride the New Wave, but stayed with their Heinleinesque roots.

Friday is dynamite. No off-the-rails stuff. I've amused myself for years wondering who could convincingly play Friday, who as an "enhanced" or artificial person could indeed do the hyper-athletic and fight stuff that the films today present us all the time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (rpbg1)

200 > They say that history belongs to the victors, but in fact history belongs to those that commission the history books.

Or those who write them.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:14 AM (mNq/0)

201 Something to that. But trying to write in a foreign voice can be worse. When Conan Doyle tries to write American, the results are embarrassing.

Mencken once said that Wodehouse was the only Brit who could write American English.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:12 AM (ZbwAu)


Writing in another voice is difficult, so I don't bang on Fleming too much for his weakness. Writing in another voice in another time is even harder; I find it easier in my writing to just do everything in a 21st century voice and then on successive drafts, adapt to an early 20th century setting.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:15 AM (2JVJo)

202 Yes, I bough it, MP4. I think I even left a review. That book must be the Bible of Ripperology.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:15 AM (XxJt1)

203 +++ Yes. Good book, but Grant's is better.



BTW, the History Channel has a series about Grant starting this week.



A must watch for this Grantophile.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:12 AM (T09ml)

---
Grant is a better writer, but Sherman is essential to understanding him.

He gets into a level of tactical detail that slows the narrative at times, but he does have a sardonic side to him that is fun.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:15 AM (cfSRQ)

204 Allen West, former Florida congressman, injured in motorcycle crash: reports

West was reportedly transported to a hospital by helicopter and was in stable condition but undergoing further assessment of his condition.

https://fxn.ws/2B0BpYh

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 10:16 AM (+y/Ru)

205 First-person accounts always get a pass because they are writing what they know.

In "To War in a Stringbag" the author notes that naval aviators had special insignia to warn sailors that they knew nothing about ships and could be safely ignored off the flight deck.

Far more insidious is when you see a historian omit information that undercuts their case - information that is widely available.

This is where the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect kicks in. If I know the author has it wrong in the stuff I *can* verify, why would I trust the stuff I can't?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:06 AM (cfSRQ)
_______

The trouble is that people read the first person accounts and the falsehoods sink in with the truths. Unless you're a nerd on the given subject, that's hard to avoid.

It's a general truism. We cannot help taking in the attitudes which are in the air in our own culture. And it takes a lot of effort to try to find them, and eliminate it. Large doses of Lewis, Chesterton, and Waugh help, but there is no real cure. Just keep at it.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:17 AM (ZbwAu)

206 All right, folks, I am off to sit on the porch and try to sketch out some of my own book.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 10:17 AM (2JVJo)

207 Oh well, back to my Sunday morning crossword.

Posted by: Mr. Trashbag, Shoggoth and Eater Of Toes at May 24, 2020 10:18 AM (T09ml)

208 Hey all from embattled Michigan:
Andre Norton, The Last Planet, was the first sf book I read in (I think) 6th grade. If I recall correctly, damaged ship makes it to uncharted planet on edge of galaxy. Turns out it is Sol III, Earth, the forgotten home planet. 11 year old mind blown!

Can't recommend now, but at the time, ... wow!

Posted by: sinmi at May 24, 2020 10:18 AM (A5IVt)

209 Beast was the first of his I tried to read - which put me off Heinlein for over a decade.

But I went back and tried him again; this time with Starship Troopers. Glad to say, he took that time. I think I've read every novel he's written, even Beast. Those later world-as-myth/Lazarus Long books are definitely not his best, and neither is Stranger - I don't like that book at all.
Posted by: Jeff Weimer at May 24, 2020


*
*

Time Enough for Love is one of those big big books that an author may write late in his career, trying to show all the things he's learned about life and writing. TEfL works: It contains action and adventure, love stories, wisdom ("The Notebooks of Lazarus Long") and a grand time-travel story to boot. Okay, there's the business with LL's mother, but it's fascinating anyway.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:19 AM (rpbg1)

210 > In my book, I quoted extensively from Churchill's assessment of the Spanish Civil War, to wit that he didn't like the Nationalists, but the Republicans would have had him and his family killed.

Orwell also came to that conclusion, hence Animal Farm and 1984.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:19 AM (mNq/0)

211 A couple of weeks ago I went to a local farm market
in Newburyport that sells milk in glass bottles. I was stopped at the
door and told they don't accept returned bottles anymore.


I said, "but you're not keeping them - you're sending them back to the dairy to be sterilized!"


Nope. Still wouldn't take them because of the Kung Flu.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)


Oddly, a lot of the restrictions seem to affect things that our betters don't like, the governments don't want to keep funding, and the retailers find themselves marginal on providing.

I suspect a lot of municipal pools will be shut down for years, for example.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 10:19 AM (WyVLE)

212 Report: Elizabeth Warren Set to Host Big-Dollar Fundraiser for Biden

-
Wants to be first Injun VP

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 10:20 AM (+y/Ru)

213 Enjoy your porch. MP4. Sounds like a plan to me.

Posted by: creeper at May 24, 2020 10:20 AM (XxJt1)

214 For a long time British writers couldn't seem to get their heads around the notion that there isn't "an" American accent. So they'd throw in features of half a dozen American accents. Heck, even things like dropping the letter r are done _differently_ in different parts of the country.

More to the point, trying to represent an accent phonetically is almost always a recipe for disaster, as scores of justly forgotten 19th century dialect humorists could attest if anybody bothered to read their books, which nobody does because they tried to represent accents phonetically and it was a disaster.

Mark Twain's about the only one who pulled it off, and in part he did it by sleight of hand. He has a few "dialect" words which the reader will notice, but the rest of the dialogue is in normal English. He does make use of word choice and grammar, of course.

Rule of thumb for writers: if you're not Mark Twain, don't try to spell an accent.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (/OGwR)

215 Stranger in a Strange Land is the the only thing I've ever read by Heinlein. I concluded I need to waste my time on anything else he wrote. I've since been persuaded otherwise. But have not gotten around to it. Stranger left a really bad taste in my mouth. (Yeah, I know, phrasing.)

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (H5knJ)

216 112 > Horde Times:

Tales from the Barrel

Posted by: vmom Still Alive in These Tyrannical Times at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM (G546f)

---
Children of the Kaboom.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

I Love You, Mary B. Cloggenstein.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

Not Without My Fucksock

The AoS Home Healthcare Guide: How to Slap a Hot Iron to It.

1001 Recipes for a Dead Hobo

Cooking with Valu-Rite

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:39 AM (mNq/0)
_____

Whatever title wins, the cover MUST have a picture of Joan Collins. Playing chess.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (ZbwAu)

217 > Turned out he had a benign brain tumor that was affecting his concentration.

Blocked carotid artery, I think. It was cutting down the blood flow to his brain.

He got much, much better after that was corrected with surgery.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (mNq/0)

218 Rule of thumb for writers: if you're not Mark Twain, don't try to spell an accent.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (/OGwR)
-----
Or George MacDonald Fraser.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (4o2K3)

219 I haven't read all of the Fleming Bonds, but IMO, From Russia With Love - once you get past the interminable opening - is good and Live and Let Die is much better than the movie.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 24, 2020


*
*

MPPPP,

The best Bonds are FRWL, LaLD, Moonraker (even more of a period piece than some of them), and Doctor No. Casino Royale has a certain hard-boiled flavor (for an English novel) that is very effective, too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (rpbg1)

220 Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (H5knJ)

Give his Juveniles a chance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles


Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (PiwSw)

221 @100 --

Grammie, that's like our library, except no bag.

I park in library's lot. Call posted number and give my name. Librarian, wearing mask, wheels out item on cart, then steps away. I get out of car and get item. Sheesh.

At least we can retrieve items we have reserved.

For me, those are CDs; my bookshelves are so overloaded that I'm making a conscious effort not to read anything I don't own. Results are middling, as my Bond post shows.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 10:23 AM (u/nim)

222 Stranger in a Strange Land is the the only thing I've ever read by Heinlein. I concluded I need to waste my time on anything else he wrote. I've since been persuaded otherwise. But have not gotten around to it. Stranger left a really bad taste in my mouth. (Yeah, I know, phrasing.)
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (H5knJ)


*fistbump*

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 10:23 AM (y7DUB)

223 The first Sci-Fi book I read was Moon of 3 Rings by Andre Norton. She was not a fantastic writer, and I passed to other writers as soon as I could master the language, but she always wrote a good story.

I think the book that affected me the most was The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell. I read it, remembered the plot, and never remembered the author or the title for 30 years until I stumbled across an excerpt online.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 10:23 AM (WyVLE)

224 > Report: Elizabeth Warren Set to Host Big-Dollar Fundraiser for Biden

Good luck with that, Lizzie. You bring no voters to the table. All the white Karens are already voting for Biden.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:24 AM (mNq/0)

225 Miss. Peacock in the Library with the dagger...

Posted by: lin-duh en fugue at May 24, 2020 10:24 AM (UUBmN)

226 Stranger in a Strange Land is the the only thing I've ever read by Heinlein. I concluded I need to waste my time on anything else he wrote. I've since been persuaded otherwise. But have not gotten around to it. Stranger left a really bad taste in my mouth. (Yeah, I know, phrasing.)
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 24, 2020


*
*

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work. Try The Door Into Summer, Friday, Methuselah's Children, and his best juvenile, Have Space Suit Will Travel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM (rpbg1)

227 The trouble is that people read the first person
accounts and the falsehoods sink in with the truths. Unless you're a
nerd on the given subject, that's hard to avoid.



It's a general truism. We cannot help taking in the attitudes which
are in the air in our own culture. And it takes a lot of effort to try
to find them, and eliminate it. Large doses of Lewis, Chesterton, and
Waugh help, but there is no real cure. Just keep at it.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:17 AM (ZbwAu)

---
Yes, and the solution is for them to have a decent editor. Of course, this isn't always the case.

But the other element is that they provide material for other historians.

That's why I give them a pass. They write what they know and that's what people should cite.

What I can't forgive is people who know better, and who twist the account anyway. Beevor had to know that Spain's Popular Front rigged the re-votes because his narrative goes from them winning a narrow majority to impeaching the president in a lop-sided vote he doesn't bother to explain.

He's obscuring what happened on purpose. There's no other explanation.

He also pulls a quote I'm pretty sure is out of context from a conservative paper about how well the 1936 election went. Maybe it was sarcasting or referencing local conditions, but dozens of people were killed. Violence was endemic and widely commented upon.

Basically, his version is a lie. The 1936 elections were a shit-show, the Popular Front forced re-votes that boosted their already rigged majority and then launched a coup against the existing president to put in a more compliant one.

But if he says that, the reader will grasp why people would decide that the government is corrupt and look for the military to solve it.

That in turn wrecks his "Republic Good - Franco Bad" fairy tale.

Conversely, I have no problem with a war veteran of the Republic hating on Franco because he's honest about his side. That's also good to know.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM (cfSRQ)

228 Rule of thumb for writers: if you're not Mark Twain, don't try to spell an accent.

Posted by: Trimegistus



So you're saying we should retire "ah ain't noways tarrrd"? Pity.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:26 AM (T6t7i)

229 A lot of British writers in the 19C also had trouble understanding how American society worked. They kept trying to map it onto England and failing. For instance they were continually shocked that our "better classes" for most of that period ignored government completely, leaving that chore to ex-saloon keepers and failed lawyers.

One British writer who absolutely grokked Americans was Rudyard Kipling. Living here and marrying an American woman probably helped.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:26 AM (/OGwR)

230 Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work. Try The Door Into Summer, Friday, Methuselah's Children, and his best juvenile, Have Space Suit Will Travel.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM (rpbg1)
-----
No love for "Citizen of the Galaxy"?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:26 AM (4o2K3)

231 I haven't read Frederick Taylor's book, but I was lecturing on Cold War Germany this semester, and tried to include as many anecdotes from the Wall as I could.

My favorite was of an East Berliner who checked out a book from a West Berlin library the day before the Wall went up, and held on to it until the Wall went down 28 years later, then went back and returned it. (No, the library didn't charge him overdue fees.)

Posted by: Dr. T at May 24, 2020 10:27 AM (Vgw1E)

232 I like From Russia, With Love." That's where I learned the only Russian I know -- Sookin San.

Fleming translates it as "son of a bitch."

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 10:27 AM (u/nim)

233 So far, the weather outside is looking cold and miserable. this may be a day for reading rather than hiking and biking.

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 24, 2020 10:27 AM (Lhaco)

234 224 > Report: Elizabeth Warren Set to Host Big-Dollar Fundraiser for Biden

Good luck with that, Lizzie. You bring no voters to the table. All the white Karens are already voting for
Biden.


The menu will be from Pow Wow Chow:

Cold Omelets with Crab Meat
Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing


Yum!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 10:27 AM (PiwSw)

235 One British writer who absolutely grokked Americans was Rudyard Kipling. Living here and marrying an American woman probably helped.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020


*
*

In reverse, John Dickson Carr was an American who married an Englishwoman and lived in Britain for many years starting in the 1930s. I think he captured the English tone and flavor quite well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:28 AM (rpbg1)

236 I'm finally getting close to reading "Drums Along the Mohawk". The Kindle version I have includes an intro by Diana Gabaldon. She provides an nice breakdown of how the best selling book was effectively adapted for the movies. She did a really nice job of it.

Based on the reaction of the traditional muzzleloading community, this is probably a book I'll get in hardcover at some point.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 10:28 AM (7EjX1)

237 Orwell also came to that conclusion, hence Animal Farm and 1984.





Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:19 AM (mNq/0)

---
I quoted Orwell on the militias as well.

He was wrong about their military effectiveness, but his view is important.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 10:28 AM (cfSRQ)

238 > Cold Omelets with Crab Meat
> Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing

Oklahoma is renowned worldwide for the quality of its seafood.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:29 AM (mNq/0)

239 Anyway, I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag. And this is in WI, where restrictions have been lifted. I swear, all librarians are named Karen.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 24, 2020 09:35 AM (lwiT4)

Wow! Sounds like one of those old Soviet spy operations where the bag of money and instructions/want list was left on the park bench for the FBI guy to go and retrieve and do his spying.

Those Karens know all the tricks.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 24, 2020 10:29 AM (Z+IKu)

240 Andre Norton was the first sci-fi I ever read.


Heinlein Juveniles and Ben Bova - Exiles trilogy for me.


Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 10:30 AM (SEgpK)

241 Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work. Try The Door Into Summer, Friday, Methuselah's Children, and his best juvenile, Have Space Suit Will Travel.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM (rpbg1)
-----
No love for "Citizen of the Galaxy"?
Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020


*
*

I don't remember that one as well as the others, and was trying to keep my recommendations simple. As I recall CotG is quite good.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:30 AM (rpbg1)

242 > One British writer who absolutely grokked Americans was Rudyard Kipling. Living here and marrying an American woman probably helped.

Another was the very guy I've been socking.

British father, American mother.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:30 AM (mNq/0)

243 Good luck with that, Lizzie. You bring no voters to the table. All the white Karens are already voting for Biden.
=====================
#karensgaragesale is trending on Twatter now. I peeked in, and apparently the libtards are now meming Karen as a racist, fake-Christian, Trump supporter. Oh and, the left still can't meme.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at May 24, 2020 10:30 AM (7Fj9P)

244 214 For a long time British writers couldn't seem to get their heads around the notion that there isn't "an" American accent. So they'd throw in features of half a dozen American accents. Heck, even things like dropping the letter r are done _differently_ in different parts of the country.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020 10:21 AM (/OGwR)
______

I'm not sure we're not in the same boat. The Brits were aware of the differences within their own country. E.g., there is a long tradition, when translating Greek plays, of having Spartans speak Scots.

I suspect every country has this problem dealing with others. Not all Canadians sound like the MacKenzie brothers.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:31 AM (ZbwAu)

245 Sex, Dating, Marriage, and Divorce:A Four Part Guide to AoSHQ Relationship Management

Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:31 AM (JFO2v)

246 Boy, ah say boy, ah can't take any more clamjamfrie from that throttlebottom Wrey.

Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn at May 24, 2020 10:31 AM (Jj+59)

247 232
I like From Russia, With Love." That's where I learned the only Russian I know -- Sookin San.



Fleming translates it as "son of a bitch."


Patton, or more specifically, the translator, says something like that in the movie, when a Russian asks him to have a drink. Sik sookim sinm.
I no speaka the Russian.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:32 AM (T6t7i)

248 I like From Russia, With Love." That's where I learned the only Russian I know -- Sookin San.

Fleming translates it as "son of a bitch."
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020


*
*

There's also "Bogou moiou," "My God," which Tatiana uses at one point. And the obscenity that Fleming has to render (it was 1957) with asterisks in it, but which ends with ". . . mat." If that's "mother," then you have a pretty good idea what curse General G. was saying.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:32 AM (rpbg1)

249 Karens List: A Book of nags, scolds, henpecking, and overly dramatic reactions to everyday happenings.

Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:33 AM (JFO2v)

250 Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work.

I think a lot of hippie types liked it plus Leon Russell named a song after the title (I don't think the song was based on the book as much as it was just a catchy title).

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 10:35 AM (y7DUB)

251 235 One British writer who absolutely grokked Americans was Rudyard Kipling. Living here and marrying an American woman probably helped.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 24, 2020

*
*

In reverse, John Dickson Carr was an American who married an Englishwoman and lived in Britain for many years starting in the 1930s. I think he captured the English tone and flavor quite well.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:28 AM (rpbg1)
______

Abso-effing-lutely. Many readers assume Carr was a Brit.

And of course, P G Wodehouse was another such. American wife, lived most of his life here.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:35 AM (ZbwAu)

252 > Patton, or more specifically, the translator, says something like that in the movie, when a Russian asks him to have a drink.

There's a story about Eisenhower negotiating with Khrushchev (possibly it was in Eisenhower's autobiography).

They were sitting at the table hammering out deals. Every so often, Khrushchev would down a shot of vodka. Eisenhower of course couldn't be shown up by a godless commie, so was matching him shot-for-shot with whiskey.

At the end of each day, Eisenhower would have to be poured into the limo.

Finally someone went over and sniffed Khrushchev's glass during a break.

It wasn't vodka. White wine.

Heh.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:35 AM (mNq/0)

253 Horde Times:
What the Moose Out Front Told Me
Longbows vs. Crossbows

Posted by: cool breeze at May 24, 2020 10:36 AM (UGKMd)

254 Sex, Dating, Marriage, and Divorce:A Four Part Guide to AoSHQ Relationship Management
Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:31 AM (JFO2v)
-----
"Calm down and make me a sammitch."

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 10:36 AM (4o2K3)

255 >And the obscenity that Fleming has to render (it was 1957) with asterisks in it, but which ends with ". . . mat."

Yob tvoyu mat, likely.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:36 AM (mNq/0)

256 Abso-effing-lutely. Many readers assume Carr was a Brit.

And of course, P G Wodehouse was another such. American wife, lived most of his life here.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020


*
*

Carr had a neat ability to slide real comedy into his stories, stuff that was much like Wodehouse's work. Sometimes it was just for fun; sometimes he would use it to conceal an important clue. You'd be laughing and not really paying attention, and he'd place the clue front and center in the scene and you'd miss it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:38 AM (rpbg1)

257 Bye Horde. The pain is getting bad.

I shouldn't complain. My Dr had a cancellation, so I finally got to him. But I don't want to hit the opioids.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:38 AM (ZbwAu)

258 https://tinyurl.com/y7de9yyj

FREEBEE Alert!


Epub version of Military Science Fiction Short Story compilation "Dogs of War in epub format. Includes one of my oldest favorites, "Or Battle's Sound" by Harry Harrison

Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 10:38 AM (SEgpK)

259 And the obscenity that Fleming has to render (it was 1957) with asterisks in it, but which ends with ". . . mat."

Yob tvoyu mat, likely.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020


*
*

Fleming renders it as "Y*b**nna mat."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:40 AM (rpbg1)

260 There's also a flaw I expected. Like so many other Anglo-American authors, he's got a bad case of "the grass is always greener" syndrome. When I was young, it was routine to see the Panther, the Zero, and the Bismarck all treated as super-weapons. I've noticed that Germans don't do that; they prefer to brag about their hardware and doctrine. Enough to wonder how they lost. They tend to excuse in on numbers.

(I've been glad to see recently there has been pushback against the idea that Sherman tanks were crap, for instance.)
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:57 AM (ZbwAu)


As much as Stephen Ambrose gets knocked around today (and rightly so), he was very good about his assessment of American vs. German weapons in WWII, pointing out that it all depended on the circumstances. Tigers and Panthers were better for close-quarters fighting in the Normandy hedgerows, and since that was many GIs first experience of combat, it established the idea that German tanks were better, even though the Shermans were clearly better once the fighting became more mobile. Same goes with the grenades: the German "potato-mashers" threw less shrapnel and so you could follow up quicker after launching it; on the other hand, American grenades inflicted more damage.

It was all about the nature of the fighting.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 24, 2020 10:40 AM (Vgw1E)

261 Rule of thumb for writers: if you're not Mark Twain, don't try to spell an accent.


oh-oh


Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 10:40 AM (AwPyG)

262 I just re-watched Kayleigh taking apart the press room. She...stimulates me.
In an intellectual sort of way.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at May 24, 2020 10:40 AM (7Fj9P)

263 Catching-up on the fishing thread and hooked this little gem, which deserved a bigger audience.

Love you all, long time. Must engage in Power Tools v Nature, The Reckoning.

113

Ahhh, Camp Defiance! Home of the 3rd Kansas, right on the Missouri border. Later, grew to become the Council Grove area.

The latter became quite popular for meetings every few months between the native peoples and the white settlers. food, blankets, and women were freely traded.

The women particularly look forward to this. White women were excited to find that it was true what they say about how the native bucks were gifted. And the Indian women appreciated the white men using soap, and anal lube.

Later the Irish arrived, and all was ruined...

Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer at May 23, 2020 09:14 PM

Posted by: Heirloominati, gathering two of every animal just in case at May 24, 2020 10:41 AM (rqgqe)

264 Carr had a neat ability to slide real comedy into his stories, stuff that was much like Wodehouse's work. Sometimes it was just for fun; sometimes he would use it to conceal an important clue. You'd be laughing and not really paying attention, and he'd place the clue front and center in the scene and you'd miss it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:38 AM (rpbg1)
_______

Curse you! I had to agree. Carr actually said that openly about HM.

And I agree. Carr and Jack Vance are the only writers I've seen who can try and be Wodehousian without embarrassing themselves.

In general, Carr hated the "single hidden clue" trick. Where one sentence only contains the answer.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:41 AM (ZbwAu)

265 The Spanish right doesn't seem to have bothered to defend the Nationalists at least in recent decades. So, apparently, they didnt like them much either.
Too bad this reticence led to the republican side winning the minds of the Spanish people through socialist propaganda and indoctrination. Therefore, the current Spanish government and a 700% increase in
migrants into Spain in recent years.

Posted by: Floridachick at May 24, 2020 10:41 AM (z+m6G)

266 Horde Times:
What the Moose Out Front Told Me
Longbows vs. Crossbows


Rise of the Trebuchet
Hobo Hunting: now more than ever
Chili Cookoff, or how I learned to love the carrot

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:41 AM (KZzsI)

267 Welp - lots of speculation going around the internet this morning by, you know, internet lawyers about the meaning of the hiring of Beth Wilkerson by Judge Sullivan.

The most interesting is that Wilkerson was hired to represent his court, not Sullivan personally. And as such a representative of the court, she will ask this week for en banc review of the writ (she's close friends with Merrick Garland who sits on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals), and that she will also request an extension, probably to the end of June or July.

I doubt she gets either, but that seems to be the most probably reasoning behind this gambit. Also, Sullivan has gone senile now and the court needs to be represented by someone of sound mind...heh.

Posted by: Boswell at May 24, 2020 10:42 AM (32YRo)

268 I took Russian in high school and the only profanity he taught us was Boszhe Moi (my God) and K'Chortu (the hell with you, or to the devil with you).

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:43 AM (KZzsI)

269 Remember:

If you've read a Moron book, please try to leave reviews.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting terrorist in Nakatomi Tower at May 24, 2020 10:43 AM (LvTSG)

270 I am Jack the Ripper, man, I got all fingery but I had one helluva hangnail. My word as a serial-killing Biden!

Posted by: Joe The Ripper at May 24, 2020 10:43 AM (oVJmc)

271 The most interesting is that Wilkerson was hired to represent his court,
not Sullivan personally. And as such a representative of the court, she
will ask this week for en banc review of the writ


I'm astonished this is legal. We have to approve judges for a reason. Isn't Wilkerson acting as a de facto judge?

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:44 AM (T6t7i)

272 Welp - lots of speculation going around the internet this morning by, you know, internet lawyers about the meaning of the hiring of Beth Wilkerson by Judge Sullivan.

The most interesting is that Wilkerson was hired to represent his court, not Sullivan personally. And as such a representative of the court, she will ask this week for en banc review of the writ (she's close friends with Merrick Garland who sits on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals), and that she will also request an extension, probably to the end of June or July.

I doubt she gets either, but that seems to be the most probably reasoning behind this gambit. Also, Sullivan has gone senile now and the court needs to be represented by someone of sound mind...heh.

Posted by: Boswell at May 24, 2020 10:42 AM (32YRo)

ENOUGH of this bullshit..Roberts has to step in and end this NOW

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:44 AM (85Gof)

273 Russian is very rich in obscenity. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat in Russian. When I was at DLI, the teachers refused to dwell on the subject, but they did helpfully direct us to buy a very useful dictionary of Russian obscenities. I still have mine packed away somewhere.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at May 24, 2020 10:45 AM (H5knJ)

274 In general, Carr hated the "single hidden clue" trick. Where one sentence only contains the answer.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020


*
*

His view was that it should not be one clue alone (even in a short story), but a ladder of them leading to the solution of the mystery. In his famous essay about detective fiction, he suggested that writers should not hurl their single clue like a bomb and run, but dangle their clues before the reader and lavish care on them. Ellery Queen did that to perfection as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:45 AM (rpbg1)

275 If you've read a Moron book, please try to leave reviews.

Please Even if its a short review, its better than no review. It doesn't have to be some kind of literary triumph, anything at all helps.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:45 AM (KZzsI)

276 Jesus, that fuck wallace has Bobo Brazil as one of his stooges

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:46 AM (85Gof)

277 Horde Times:

What the Moose Out Front Told Me

Longbows vs. Crossbows



Rise of the Trebuchet

Hobo Hunting: now more than ever

Chili Cookoff, or how I learned to love the carrot
===

The Nothing Diet: Fasting Your Way To GAINZZZ

#TwoWeeks : The Future is Always 14 Days Away

Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 10:47 AM (SEgpK)

278 Wallace attacking Kayleigh now with Bobo's concurrence.

Fuck them and Fuck FOX

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:47 AM (85Gof)

279 I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag.

-
One step from Fahrenheit 451.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 10:48 AM (+y/Ru)

280 Fuck wallace. why doesn't he move his leftwing ass to cnn

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (85Gof)

281 I'm astonished this is legal. We have to approve judges for a reason. Isn't Wilkerson acting as a de facto judge?

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:44 AM (T6t7i)

I don't know if a federal court can hire a legal third party to represent it. But it has, and here we are. Wilkerson will need to appear before the DC Circuit and show herself as the legal representative of the Sullivan court, if this is the case...and then all holy hell will break loose.

Posted by: Boswell at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (32YRo)

282 Orwell also came to that conclusion, hence Animal Farm and 1984.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill

Found that book on the shelf yesterday. Have never read it.

Posted by: Infidel at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (sNpqr)

283 Not long ago I listened to a Sherlock Holmes collection narrated by Stephen Fry.
Fry is a good narrator, but his American accent sounds off. I can't quite explain it it, but it sounds off.
I'm sure Americans sound off to native speakers when they try Irish, Scottish or Australian accents.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (Uu+Jp)

284 278
Wallace attacking Kayleigh now with Bobo's concurrence.


I'm sure she'd be happy to come on Fox and eviscerate Wallace.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (T6t7i)

285 Elizabeth George is probably the preeminent American writer who writes British detective stories, and I think the secret to her success is that she unabashedly writes for an American audience--she's not absolutely accurate, but she knows what Americans expect.

The same goes for historical romance stories--the author may not necessarily be accurate, but he or she knows what the mass audience is expecting.
There's always a conflict between accuracy and appeal.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (AwPyG)

286 41
I love that photo from 1928. It's interesting for the content but,
technically, it is an excellent example of black and white photography.
One wonders what they'd have thought if they'd known what was going to happen in the next 20-odd years: depression, world wars, the birth of Yoko Ono.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 09:34 AM (T6t7i)

-----------------------------------

What's interesting to me is that the subject of the photograph is advocating for government to handle the library system. What we have seen is that when government takes over a system, it takes money from all of us (at gunpoint mind you, try not paying your property taxes and see if eventually the armed sheriffs don't show up and drag you and your possessions out to the curb).

Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (oGBso)

287 Now all the fucks on fox are attacking Kayleigh

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (85Gof)

288 Reading along, will own up to its been so long since I read a real
sci-fi book maybe Alien might be it.

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (ZCEU2)

289 I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag.

What is this some kind of drug deal or an espionage op? You use a secret drop point and go anonymously? These people are one match away from being book burners

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (KZzsI)

290 I dinna see tha Guinness Kiosks in that so called LIBRARY?

Pssst You La seeus in Aisle B.

Posted by: saf at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (5IHGB)

291 "FOX News Board Member Paul Ryan"

Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (SEgpK)

292 Thanks G-D for this kid Josh

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (85Gof)

293 One step from Fahrenheit 451.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 10:48 AM (+y/Ru)

with all of the curse words and bedroom scenes thoughtfully sharpied out

Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:51 AM (JFO2v)

294 Fuck you wallace

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 10:51 AM (85Gof)

295 @281
A lot of very nasty stuff is coming out abut Judge Sullivan (which of course, was carefully hidden) I wouldn't be surprised if the personal lawyer is worried about Sullivan's potential criminality.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 10:51 AM (AwPyG)

296 Not long ago I listened to a Sherlock Holmes collection narrated by Stephen Fry.

I feel that I should like him but I find myself instead wanting to punch him in the face. I think its because he tries too hard to be a likable figure rather than just being one. Like he's your uncle who is trying to be the favorite one but secretly despises you and thinks you are stupid, ignorant, and ridiculous.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:51 AM (KZzsI)

297 Oklahoma is renowned worldwide for the quality of its seafood.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill at May 24, 2020 10:29 AM (mNq/0)

Fresh off the boat.

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 10:52 AM (X/Pw5)

298 282 Orwell also came to that conclusion, hence Animal Farm and 1984.

Posted by: Winston Spencer-Churchill

Found that book on the shelf yesterday. Have never read it.
Posted by: Infidel at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (sNpqr)

The Ace of Spades is in Animal Farm

Posted by: rhennigantx dont californicate my TEXAS at May 24, 2020 10:52 AM (JFO2v)

299 > (I don't think the song was based on the book as much as it was just a catchy title).

Well, it's from the Bible originally. Exodus 2:22.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:53 AM (mNq/0)

300 The Ace of Spades is in Animal Farm

Those who have ampersands are more equal than others

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:53 AM (KZzsI)

301 @247 --

"Patton" was where I learned to pronounce it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 10:53 AM (u/nim)

302 What is this some kind of drug deal or an espionage op? You use a secret drop point and go anonymously? These people are one match away from being book burners
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (KZzsI)

They'd have no problem burning the books and banning the people who do not support them and their agenda. This stupid lockdown has shown that the "elites" have no respect at all for the Bill of Rights and would like to replace it with PC and cancel culture.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 10:54 AM (ONvIw)

303 I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag.

What is this some kind of drug deal or an espionage op? You use a secret drop point and go anonymously? These people are one match away from being book burners
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020


*
*

My college's library started that up. You make a request online, then you can go into the foyer of the library (only on T 10-11 or Th 3-4) and pick up your books in a plastic bag with your name on it. You can return what you previously checked out in the big drop box out front.

Iive never been one to enter requests for a given book like that, not all the time. Part of the fun in a library is roaming up and down in the stacks to see what catches your eye. I discovered Before the Fact by Anthony Berkeley that way.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:54 AM (rpbg1)

304 >>ENOUGH of this bullshit..Roberts has to step in and end this NOW

I feel for Flynn having to go through this but I'd like to see this play out until the June 1st deadline.

Flynn is not going to go to jail, Trump will pardon him if all else fails, but there has to be a reason the swamp is going to these lengths when they know the jig is up. Of all the lawyers in DC he picks the one who helped rig the Clinton email investigation?

The Appeals Court was already pissed off and Sullivan pulls this stunt. This is crazy stuff.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 10:54 AM (ZLI7S)

305 @275
Christopher is right; the mysterious Amazon algorithm is based in part on positive reviews from different areas of the country, so it is massively helpful if you give one of our authors a good review.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 10:54 AM (AwPyG)

306 268 I took Russian in high school and the only profanity he taught us was Boszhe Moi (my God) and K'Chortu(the hell with you, or to the devil with you).
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:43 AM (KZzsI)
---
Thus we see that Marc Okrand did indeed base the feel/sound of Klingon on Russian.

And Yiddish! K'replach!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 10:55 AM (Dc2NZ)

307 > Found that book on the shelf yesterday. Have never read it.

Animal Farm, 1984, and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch should be required reading for every high school in the United States. The Gulag Archipelago should be required for college graduation.



Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:55 AM (mNq/0)

308 QWERTY not cursive

Book thread and its many authors always gets me to contemplating the creative process.

That winter we got stuck at home, snow-bound, for several days. We had the desktop, but the power was unsteady and the battery backup didn't, so I was functionally computerless.

That's when I ended up handwriting the only long-form fiction I've written. After being back-burnered (more like deep-frozen) in my head for many years, suddenly the story just burbled out onto paper.

Ever since I took typing in high school, I've lived by keyboards. I had some handwritten journals, the rare snailmail letter, but 99% I'm doing QWERTY not cursive.

The mind must be functioning differently in each case. Both brains (hemispheres) engaged in ten fingers mechanically tappity-tapping, versus one-handed flowing cursive - how differently do the neurons fire with those two dramatically different ways of accomplishing basically the same objective? What effect on the creative process behind the words?

Seems walking away from the computer might be in order, if I ever want to get out any of the rest of the tales floating in my head. I was forced to it by the snow, once. Don't know if I could do it by willpower. There's so much to reeeeeeead online! And comment on! (tappity tappit tap)

</idle noodling>

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 10:55 AM (bd376)

309 Later my bookish taters.

Too nice out. Will be back later.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 24, 2020 10:57 AM (Dc2NZ)

310 > about the meaning of the hiring of Beth Wilkerson by Judge Sullivan.

Doesn't Wilkerson specialize in criminal defense?

She seems like an odd choice for something that's strictly procedural.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:57 AM (mNq/0)

311 Whatever title wins, the cover MUST have a picture of Joan Collins. Playing chess.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:22 AM (ZbwAu)


With Brian Dennehy.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 10:57 AM (+u+qV)

312 Iive never been one to enter requests for a given book like that, not all the time. Part of the fun in a library is roaming up and down in the stacks to see what catches your eye. I discovered Before the Fact by Anthony Berkeley that way.

For those who cannot take the walk through the stacks to get books any more such as my mother, the ability to order books online and pick them up is a Godsend. They don't even allow that any longer at the local library. I have books out from February that I cannot return, you can't even take books BACK to the library right now. No word at all on when it will re open

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:58 AM (KZzsI)

313 . . .

Ever since I took typing in high school, I've lived by keyboards. I had some handwritten journals, the rare snailmail letter, but 99% I'm doing QWERTY not cursive.

The mind must be functioning differently in each case. Both brains (hemispheres) engaged in ten fingers mechanically tappity-tapping, versus one-handed flowing cursive - how differently do the neurons fire with those two dramatically different ways of accomplishing basically the same objective? What effect on the creative process behind the words?

. . .

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020


*
*

Before I got a typewriter at age 13, I wrote everything in longhand. When the typewriter broke during my high school years, I wrote my stuff in summer -- and my class work -- by putting pen to paper. I really don't think I could manage it now; my hand would cramp! I'm so glad to have word processing software!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:00 AM (rpbg1)

314 I used to write everything by hand, but once I got to college it all went to typing. I can type much, much faster than I can write and that helps keep up with the ideas flowing out of my brain.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:00 AM (KZzsI)

315 The Trump interview with Sharyl Attkinsson is on.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (ZLI7S)

316 The Virus will be one of those historical events where the second and third order knock-on effects will be more consequential. It's like the shooting of the Grand Duke. Shit is sure to happen and the world will be different afterwards.

We were already in a Cold Civil War at home.
Now we're certainly in a Cold War with China abroad.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (9TdxA)

317 @268 --

Howard Chaykin constantly used "Boszhe Moi" in his 1980s comic "American Flagg!"

Finally, I know what it meant.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (u/nim)

318 277 Horde Times:
What the Moose Out Front Told Me

Longbows vs. Crossbows

Rise of the Trebuchet

Hobo Hunting: now more than ever
Chili Cookoff, or how I learned to love the carrot===

The Nothing Diet: Fasting Your Way To GAINZZZ
#TwoWeeks : The Future is Always 14 Days Away

Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 10:47 AM (SEgpK)


Waiter, There's A Cuck In My Soup

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (+u+qV)

319 No word at all on when it will re open
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:58 AM (KZzsI)

With the CDC walking back the dangers of surface contamination, this BS needs to end. I am sick to death of the idea that books and objects that have not been touched in weeks are somehow deadly fomites. This is sheer psychosis at this point.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (ONvIw)

320 @314
I heard Nelson de Mille say he writes everything out long hand. Whoa.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:02 AM (AwPyG)

321 The Gulag Archipelago should be required for college graduation.



Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:55 AM (mNq/0)

This one has sort of been kicked to the curb.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:02 AM (ONvIw)

322 My folks got me a typewriter for a graduation gift, and I used it a few times in college then a room mate spilled a soft drink into it and it was ruined. By then the college had started up a brand new system where you could get an account and use a terminal to write things on their central processor and print them out at the station in the library. I started typing up other peoples papers for some spending money.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

323 Doesn't Wilkerson specialize in criminal defense?



She seems like an odd choice for something that's strictly procedural.


She represented Kavanaugh during his Inquisition. Also, it's Wilkinson, not Wilkerson. Finally, at least as reported by WaPo, she represents Sullivan, not the court. If I understand it correctly, she has no legal standing as a court representative.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 11:03 AM (T6t7i)

324 For those who cannot take the walk through the stacks to get books any more such as my mother, the ability to order books online and pick them up is a Godsend. They don't even allow that any longer at the local library. I have books out from February that I cannot return, you can't even take books BACK to the library right now. No word at all on when it will re open
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020


*
*

Well, I'll have to do the request thing. I'm down to re-reading novels from my bookshelves that I remember well, now that I've gone through the "forgotten" ones; I'm rereading Jurassic Park, for example. If I request some stuff today, I can pick it up on Tuesday morning.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:03 AM (rpbg1)

325 @319
But you have to remember that librarians are exactly the sort of people this panic theater is aiming for.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:03 AM (AwPyG)

326 Yes I've read Sherman's memoirs. He was a brutally funny guy (why so many of his one liners get quoted).

Even before the Civil War Sherman had a pretty interesting life.

Posted by: Big V Caffeinated at May 24, 2020 11:03 AM (eMtQa)

327 Pirate from the flood zone: I'm late, so maybe this has already been suggested: Any load you have for the dump gets dropped at City Hall. Locals get pissed, tell them the next one is dropped in their driveway. Encouragement for them to tell the gorram fascist to go off herself.

Posted by: Bikermailman at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (zMUOV)

328 What channel Atkinson?

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (9TdxA)

329 I saw The Deadly Fomites open for Poison at MSG in '87.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (4o2K3)

330 I read Sherman's memoirs and would highly recommend them. He seemed more willing to pass judgement on the character and abilities of the other generals (on both sides) and the politicians than Grant was in his memoirs.

Posted by: Who knew at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (SfO/T)

331 about the meaning of the hiring of Beth Wilkerson by Judge Sullivan.
Doesn't Wilkerson specialize in criminal defense?

She seems like an odd choice for something that's strictly procedural.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:57 AM (mNq/0)


I saw an interesting thread on Twitter about Sullivan being in cahoots with Elijah Cummings in shady business deals, and it's all going to come out.

This all is unverified, of course. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (+u+qV)

332 @323
Again, I'll put a small wager on Sullivan being worried that his sins are going to catch up with him. That, or Beth is there to arkancide him.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (AwPyG)

333 305
@275
Christopher is right; the mysterious Amazon algorithm is based
in part on positive reviews from different areas of the country, so it
is massively helpful if you give one of our authors a good review.


Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 10:54 AM (AwPyG)

---
Yep, book reviews are desperately needed.

Even if all you do is leave some stars and "Good book, I liked it," that helps tremendously.

To put it another way: if you're sick of liberal authors raking in all the dough, start backing Horde members so they can get a cut.

Buying is great, but a good review helps non-Horde members learn about the book as well.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (cfSRQ)

334 I am sick to death of the idea that books and objects that have not been touched in weeks are somehow deadly fomites.

I learned a word today.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (T6t7i)

335 I have a serious question.
Why should I put on pants to read the book thread when I don't have to put on pants watch my church's livestreamed service?

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (Uu+Jp)

336 NBC

Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (ZLI7S)

337 The Trump interview with Sharyl Attkinsson is on.
Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (ZLI7S)
~~~~~

Not in NJ.

Posted by: IrishEi at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (sGotD)

338 I heard Nelson de Mille say he writes everything out long hand. Whoa.
Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020


*
*

Pre-computer, I'd write out notes for whatever I was working on, and perhaps a basic draft of a scene, to get it approximately right. Then I'd go to the typewriter.

Now, I create a "Notes" document for ideas, character traits, details, etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (rpbg1)

339 I am sick to death of the idea that books and objects that have not been touched in weeks are somehow deadly fomites.

While in theory the slick covers might hold germs for a few days, the pages are somewhat porous and would absolutely not. And the chances of you getting sick from the germs on the cover are very slim; you'd have to pretty much lick the thing like an ice cream cone to have a realistic shot of it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:06 AM (KZzsI)

340 I'm reading Glittering Images by Camile Paglia. In one sense it's rather an "art through the ages" type thing. In comparing what we call ancient art to what we have now there are a couple of odd things.

So-called ancient art had a function; the Roman statues were of important people or their deities, or even told a story that all would know. Mosaic floors were just...floors. They wanted their surroundings to be beautiful--but they were also functional. Or Saxon art; mostly weapons, religious objects, or pins for clothing. These things are now relegated to "craft, but I doubt the Romans, or the Greeks or the Saxons would give a second glance to modern art.

The other is that whatever the piece of art was, (a floor, a statue, a pin...) it was a dialogue between the artist and the viewer using symbols both understood. Today's shark in formaldehyde or balloon dog in metal, or felt strips on a wall do no such thing.

Posted by: Lirio100 at May 24, 2020 11:07 AM (JK7Jw)

341 Now, I create a "Notes" document for ideas, character traits, details, etc.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (rpbg1)


Check out Scrivener.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 11:07 AM (PiwSw)

342 @322
It's interesting to see the progression: first, everyone knew how to type, then they didn't, and now everyone knows again.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:07 AM (AwPyG)

343 Not in NJ.
Posted by: IrishEi at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (sGotD)

" Not in NJ " is becoming a common phrase and sentiment lately

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:09 AM (85Gof)

344 I'll weigh in on the cursive vs typing controversy. I find that my writing improves when I write it out. I assume this is because when typing, I don't have the time to concentrate on polishing things before putting them down. With writing, my brain has time to think about the text. YMMV.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 11:09 AM (T6t7i)

345 At least the book drop off isn't in a parking garage at midnight

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 11:10 AM (ZCEU2)

346 The other is that whatever the piece of art was, (a floor, a statue, a pin...) it was a dialogue between the artist and the viewer using symbols both understood.

The difference is that art used to convey ideas, now it is meant to convey emotions. Sort of a downgrading from an intellectual adult to an emotional infant.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

347 By the way all this bullshit about going to church is dangerous...hey asshoes, NO ONE is forcing anyone to go to church fuck wads

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:10 AM (85Gof)

348 "If it keeps going the way it's going I have a chance to break the deep state"

We've come a log way in 3 1/2 years.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 11:10 AM (ZLI7S)

349 These things are now relegated to "craft, but I doubt the Romans, or the
Greeks or the Saxons would give a second glance to modern art.


I think they'd view them as irrefutable evidence of a civilization's decay, and invade immediately.

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 11:10 AM (T6t7i)

350 Now all the fucks on fox are attacking Kayleigh

-
Fucks On Fox, new from the Disney Channel!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 11:11 AM (+y/Ru)

351 Check out Scrivener.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020


*
*

Neat but there's something about it that bugs me. Can't think what it is.

Oh, wait. They want me to pay money for it.

I'm reminded of a line of Lady Violet's on Downton Abbey, when she is told that something cost a guinea: "A guinea? And did he have a mask and a gun?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:12 AM (rpbg1)

352 AM Joy w/Joy Reid@amjoyshow
.@cthagod: It has to come to a point where we stop putting the burden on black voters to show up for Democrats, and start putting the burden on Democrats to show up for black voters. #AMJoy

-
Biden, you broke him, you bought him. Well, somebody broke him, anyway.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 24, 2020 11:13 AM (+y/Ru)

353 I'm reminded of a line of Lady Violet's on Downton Abbey, when she is told that something cost a guinea: "A guinea? And did he have a mask and a gun?"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
----
They all have a mask Now...

Posted by: lin-duh en fugue at May 24, 2020 11:14 AM (UUBmN)

354 @347
But there's the beauty of the weaponized virus assault; they can claim what you do affects the health of others.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:14 AM (AwPyG)

355 While in theory the slick covers might hold germs for a few days, the pages are somewhat porous and would absolutely not. And the chances of you getting sick from the germs on the cover are very slim; you'd have to pretty much lick the thing like an ice cream cone to have a realistic shot of it.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:06 AM (KZzsI)

What irked me the most is that with the remains of the school year coming to a close, I was informed that the poor pitiful teachers are cruelly saddles with the burden of packing up student belongings that have been sitting there for a couple months and that this is "heroic" labor, right on par with healthcare workers (and I don't see us as superheroes either btw. I was not feted and thanked for cleaning wounds of AIDS patients, and changing the dressings that plenty of staff refused to change back in the 80's and 90s, and that was a bigger deal than wuflu especially before the antivirals emerged) Fuck this bullshit!!!

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:14 AM (ONvIw)

356 Tom Woods, who is both an historian and an economist of sorts, has mentioned that economists tend to be poor historians, and historians tend to have almost no understanding of economics.

His gold standard, of course, is Murray Rothbard but he does have a valid point. A lot of the period sources have no real understanding of what the economics are that are affecting their lives, and historians rely on those resources without looking at the economics either.



Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 11:14 AM (WyVLE)

357 FUX News...lol

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:15 AM (ONvIw)

358 The fear stopped when the words came to heart; I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.

Posted by: azalea city at May 24, 2020 11:15 AM (WX+x0)

359 Got some chores to handle, all. (Miss Linda, when I use that term, asks me if I'm John-Boy.) I'll drop in for the food thread later.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:16 AM (rpbg1)

360 On the Proper Care and Feeding of Trolls
The Cosplay Conservative Collection - Kristol, French, Goldberg, Rubin
Hamster Power by Pixy Misa
Short Stories by Alex the Chick

Posted by: cool breeze at May 24, 2020 11:16 AM (UGKMd)

361 I was not feted and thanked for cleaning wounds of AIDS patients, and
changing the dressings that plenty of staff refused to change back in
the 80's and 90s


Pucker factor:

[X] Severe
[ ] Not severe

Posted by: pep at May 24, 2020 11:16 AM (T6t7i)

362 I'm reminded of a line of Lady Violet's on Downton Abbey, when she is told that something cost a guinea: "A guinea? And did he have a mask and a gun?"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 11:12 AM (rpbg1)


Good tools sometimes cost a little money. What word processor are you using?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 24, 2020 11:16 AM (PiwSw)

363 Watched a documentary on heavy German WW II artillery last night. My wife didn't understand why I was upset that they didn't mention Seamus Muldoon or the Hamster when talking about Anzio Annie and Anzio Express!

Posted by: Beartooth at May 24, 2020 11:16 AM (fpc+A)

364 Closing schools was idiotic to begin with but I tend not to complain about it because its been largely beneficial. Not only are there a lot more people who should have been doing so in the first place home schooling, but parents are having their eyes opened to what their kids are being taught over those computer classrooms.

But there are ZERO POINT ZERO ZERO ZERO cases of anyone under the age of 18 passing on the Wuhan Flu to anyone else. The odds of them even getting sick from the stuff is incredibly small, and the only serious cases and very few casualties were already in horrific health to begin with.

Closing the schools was a stupid panic move, not based on anything logical, scientific, or reasonable.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (KZzsI)

365 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is condemning Chinas effort to take over national security legislation in Hong Kong, calling it a death knell for the high degree of autonomy that Beijing had promised the territory

Well to be honest, anyone who ever trusted the chicoms to maintain the status quo in Hong Kong is a fuckin idiot...and yeah I am looking at you prince charles

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (85Gof)

366 Morning horde! Beginning the day with the Mexicali Blend from Arbuckle's Coffee out of Tucson. Probably have some brats, eggs and an English muffin to start the day. Then its off to car shopping.
Still reading Graham Hancock's America Before. He's finally getting to the good part where he talks about a comet splattering itself on the Laurentian Ice Sheet 14K years ago, killing all of the large fauna on NA. It's pretty fascinating.

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (xyImL)

367
Not in NJ.
Posted by: IrishEi

Not in CO either.

Posted by: Infidel at May 24, 2020 11:18 AM (sNpqr)

368 Morning all.

Someone asked a while back about readers. I read on the kindle app on my iPad. It is perfect because there are two pages up so it kind of looks like a book and as I read very fast, "turning" the page works. The othe fabulous part is you can prop it up so you don't have to hold it which makes reading in bed perfect. I don't know how much it cost because it was a gift from my sons, but it is the basic model which I don't think is too expensive. Also nice that my library ebooks get delivered to it via Amazon.
And, best part, you can also comment on Ace.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 24, 2020 11:19 AM (QzF6i)

369 I didn't recognize the person for this week's "who dis", but I definitely recognize the profile of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife in her hand.

I finally finished "Earth Abides." It's good post-apocalyptic fiction, but it's also a story about how one generation wants to pass along it's "world" to the next. However, that younger generation will do as it sees fit, and so on and so on. Some of the nuts-and-bolts of life after a collapse were not realistic, but overall a good story.

Posted by: PabloD at May 24, 2020 11:19 AM (6EInF)

370 Just finished Robert Harvey's "War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France 1789-1815"

It's a long one, but highly readable and very informative. I'd strongly recommend it if you are interested in this era and conflict.

Now I'm starting "City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire" by Roger Crowley. Very interesting so far.

Posted by: Biggs Darklighter at May 24, 2020 11:20 AM (LZ7Gl)

371 Well to be honest, anyone who ever trusted the chicoms to maintain the status quo in Hong Kong is a fuckin idiot...and yeah I am looking at you prince charles

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (85Gof)
-------------------------------

The proper thing to do WOULD have been to announce that Hong Kong would be cut loose from once-Great Britain, and the people of Hong Kong could choose the form of their destructor, whether that would be freedom for all, or slavery under CCP.

But instead those dolts just handed over Hong Kong to the monsters who murdered 10,000 at Tiannamen Square. What the hell did they think would happen?

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 11:21 AM (oGBso)

372 I'm not even sure about emotion. What emotion is Klein's balloon dogs meant to convey? Or Hirst's shark in a tank? Or Calder's mobiles? Allegedly he "revolutionized" the world of kinetic sculptures....really?

I think it was just the juxtaposition of what we call art from earlier centuries as opposed to what is called art now that caught my interest.

Posted by: Lirio100 at May 24, 2020 11:22 AM (JK7Jw)

373 I saw an interesting thread on Twitter about Sullivan being in cahoots with Elijah Cummings in shady business deals, and it's all going to come out.

This all is unverified, of course. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (+u+qV)


I've been very skeptical of that thread coming out now when Sullivan's in the headlines. Too many unnamed alive people related to despicable acts. Seems like a Patterico level troll job to cast ridicule on Drumpf's supporters who will believe any nutter theory.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:22 AM (y7DUB)

374 Is The Who Dis a young Angela Lansbury?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 24, 2020 11:22 AM (QzF6i)

375 This week I read "Jitterbug" By Loren D Estleman (part of his Detroit series of novels). Set at the beginning of US involvement in WW2, all the auto plants have been converted into making tanks and ships and such. There is a flood of southerners making their way to Detroit for the jobs, and a serial killer is loose in the city, but the police force has been greatly reduced by the draft and volunteers for the military. Then there's the big race riot that erupts over old conflicts and new lies.

Great stuff.

Having finished that, I am now reading "The Body Lovers" by Mickey Spillane. It upsets me that I spent most of my life not having read any of his novels.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

376 @371
It was a feature, not a bug for them. Remember that Prince Charles and his sons were involved in allowing the Lockerbie bomber to be set free

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 11:23 AM (AwPyG)

377 Top o the morning y'all!

Damn heathens in the ONT kept me up way past my bedtime, ergo I didn't rise for my first cup of WTFU until 10.

I've decided to read Adam's Diary by Mark Twain. I found it in my collection...forgot I had it. For light reading, just finished a Jack Reacher novel, The Killing Floor.

It's about an evil genius who runs the greatest counterfeiting scheme ever devised and the horrific killings perpetrated by his crew to protect the enterprise. Reacher is arrested for the murders in small town Georgia and after release for lack of evidence, starts investigating, kicking ass and taking names.

Posted by: Traveling Man Who's Stuck At Home&&&& at May 24, 2020 11:25 AM (ib8F/)

378 Mentioning Presidents who get no respect, I think it's time we start defending Warren G Harding. "Back to Normalcy" is a message that is appropriate for today. And he meant the "old normal" (pre-Wilson), not the new.

On a related point, it reminds me of my wife, in her Toastmasters' days. It was her turn to pick a topic. She said "Who is your favorite President, and why?' But then added "Extra credit if it's Rutherford B Hayes."

Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM

Warren Harding was from Marion County Ohio, and Rutherford Hayes was from Delaware County Ohio, the county to it's immediate south. I did most of my growing up in Delaware County.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:25 AM (edlKR)

379 The Trump interview with Sharyl Attkinsson is on.
Posted by: JackStraw at May 24, 2020 11:01 AM (ZLI7S)
~~~~~
Not in NJ.
Posted by: IrishEi at May 24, 2020 11:05 AM (sGotD)
~~~~~

I found the transcript. Good interview. Attkinsson lets him talk. And boy does he!

Posted by: IrishEi at May 24, 2020 11:25 AM (sGotD)

380 Closing the schools was a stupid panic move, not based on anything logical, scientific, or reasonable.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (KZzsI)

From what I've seen it's an extended vacation. My grandson has about 45 minutes of online "contact" with the school per week. The assignments are nebulous and there is no due date ever. From what I've seen by looking over his shoulder, only about 40% of the kids bother with this at all. At first more did, but when Murphy announced the schools were shut til September ,the number fell and the "instruction" got worse and worse. It sickens me that the staff is getting full pay for no work. If you're doing an online program, DO IT. Don't lionize a total lack of effort and wrap yourself in glory.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:25 AM (ONvIw)

381 PabloD-

Earth Abides is a good one. For a book written in the late 30s or early 40s, the author had the dystopian vibe down pretty well.

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 11:26 AM (xyImL)

382 Well to be honest, anyone who ever trusted the chicoms to maintain the status quo in Hong Kong is a fuckin idiot...and yeah I am looking at you prince charles

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:17 AM (85Gof)
-------------------------------

The proper thing to do WOULD have been to announce that Hong Kong would be cut loose from once-Great Britain, and the people of Hong Kong could choose the form of their destructor, whether that would be freedom for all, or slavery under CCP.

But instead those dolts just handed over Hong Kong to the monsters who murdered 10,000 at Tiannamen Square. What the hell did they think would happen?

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 11:21 AM (oGBso)


As much as I love to stick it to the limeys it was a 99 year old treaty that they had no choice but to adhere to.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:26 AM (y7DUB)

383 I'm not even sure about emotion. What emotion is Klein's balloon dogs meant to convey? Or Hirst's shark in a tank? Or Calder's mobiles? Allegedly he "revolutionized" the world of kinetic sculptures....really?

They aren't trying to provoke fear or shock, but just a gut level response, a reaction. Its like trolling, in a way, any reaction is good because it means you are paying them attention.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

384 I read Sherman's memoirs and would highly recommend them. He seemed more willing to pass judgement on the character and abilities of the other generals (on both sides) and the politicians than Grant was in his memoirs.
Posted by: Who knew at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (SfO/T)

He comes across as a massive asshole. Good thing, too, because a nice, kind, forgiving guy wouldn't have been able to do what he did. He should also be the gold standard of "...professionals talk logistics."

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:27 AM (BAsqb)

385
The mission of the Library is to collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the documentary and intellectual record of the life of Ireland and to contribute to the provision of access to the larger universe of recorded knowledge.

The Irish Whiskey Encyclopedia, in 12000000 volumes.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 11:29 AM (mht8P)

386 384- Vanya, Who knew:

Have also been told Grant's memoirs are really good reading as well.

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 11:29 AM (xyImL)

387 The Time Traders was my first Andre Norton novel. Juvenile delinquent volunteers for a project that involves a base in the Arctic where people are trained to go back in time, blend with the locals and recover a crashed alien spaceship.
Only problem, the Russians are trying to do the same. And the aliens are, too.
Great read for a young male teen. I think I'll read the series again.
Posted by: RI Red at May 24, 2020 09:52 AM (ebxKR)

I think I read that. Or maybe a sequel? One or two of the yutes had sneaked aboard the intact alien ship, as it was successfully transited through time to the present. But they inadvertently cause it to launch, and it does a world-hopping tour through the broken-down remnants of the aliens' empire, eventually winding up on their homeworld.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 24, 2020 11:31 AM (wOAlk)

388 Have to change hot water tank.
Drain old, disconnect 2 cut 1 connection.
Run new feed, 7 solder connections, 2 threaded.
Fill and check for leaks
Wire and hopefully it all works.


Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 11:32 AM (ZCEU2)

389 I fondly recall the bookmobile that came to our little town. I can still smell it.

Posted by: windbag at May 24, 2020 11:32 AM (sDEZT)

390 Bought the Franklin Pierce mystery. Thanks for the rec.

FYI, the "Clue" movie is available free on Amazon Prime, for anyone who is interested.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at May 24, 2020 11:33 AM (fTtFy)

391
Have to change hot water tank.

Not an essential activity, per Gauleiter von Wolf.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 11:34 AM (mht8P)

392 374 Is The Who Dis a young Angela Lansbury?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 24, 2020 11:22 AM (QzF6i)


Sorry, no. See #4 for the correct answer.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 11:34 AM (+u+qV)

393 As much as I love to stick it to the limeys it was a 99 year old treaty that they had no choice but to adhere to.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:26 AM (y7DUB)

They should have given Hong Kong back to the rightful rulers of China.....The Republic of China.

The Brits have no imagination.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 24, 2020 11:35 AM (Z+IKu)

394 Bought the "new" Heinlein yesterday, but haven't started it yet. It's in the queue.

This is is supposedly an alternate version of The Number of the Beast, which wasn't my favorite. I bought it mainly because I own every Heinlein. I don't have any great hopes for it.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 09:16 AM

I bought (for much the same reason as you did) and I read it. I thought it was okay. I liked it better than NotB, which isn't saying much. I've been describing it as "the latest last Heinlein novel."

I can tell why they published NotB and not PotP. They're basically the same story and I think NotB has more interesting ideas in it than PotP, but I liked PotP better as a story

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:35 AM (edlKR)

395 Have to change hot water tank.
Drain old, disconnect 2 cut 1 connection.
Run new feed, 7 solder connections, 2 threaded.
Fill and check for leaks
Wire and hopefully it all works.


Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 11:32 AM (ZCEU2)


Better you than me brother. Ever try PEX? It's easy and a lot of modern plumbing is done with it.

Posted by: Traveling Man Who's Stuck At Home&&&& at May 24, 2020 11:35 AM (ib8F/)

396 Have also been told Grant's memoirs are really good reading as well.
Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 11:29 AM (xyImL)

Both are very good. A very interesting contrast of personalities-- Grant, who didn't like the Army, or war, doing what he did because it was the quickest way to end the fighting, and Sherman, who comes across as a detail oriented logistics psycho who probably smiled once in his life and it hurt his face-- totally cold blooded.

Be forewarned if you're from Texas, Grant has nothing good to say about that state or its people.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:36 AM (BAsqb)

397 After looking and realizing that the books are ebooks. I need a new device for ebooks, my last tablet had an unfortunate last date with the floor. I refuse to read them on my phone due to the small screen size. Any Horde recomendations? On a budget and it would just be for ebooks.

Posted by: Picric at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM

eInk kindle "With special offers". The "special offers" in this case means that it has ads on the screen when the display is off. I don't find that onerous and a $20 (or whatever it is now) discount for letting them show you ads sometimes isn't bad.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM (edlKR)

398 Whatever the treaties and agreements said, at the end of the day Hong Kong isn't really militarily defensible, and the ChiComs were going to get it one way or another.

Margaret Thatcher talks about this in her autobiography. The ChiComs made it clear that they were taking the whole colony, by force if they had to.

Posted by: Biggs Darklighter at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM (LZ7Gl)

399 I fondly recall the bookmobile that came to our little town. I can still smell it.

I remember that It was a neat idea to get people reading and it really worked. I guess those little libraries people have out on their yard are kind of that, today.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:39 AM (KZzsI)

400 They should have given Hong Kong back to the rightful rulers of China.....The Republic of China.

The Brits have no imagination.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 24, 2020 11:35 AM (Z+IKu)


I honestly thought the ChiComs would just use them as their cash cow. That they didn't just proves to me that at their core they're dumb as a bag of dicks no matter how well they do in sciency courses.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:40 AM (y7DUB)

401 Whatever the treaties and agreements said, at the end of the day Hong Kong isn't really militarily defensible, and the ChiComs were going to get it one way or another.

Margaret Thatcher talks about this in her autobiography. The ChiComs made it clear that they were taking the whole colony, by force if they had to.
Posted by: Biggs Darklighter at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM (LZ7Gl)

I agree with that 100%...my point was the farce the west played out that there was any chance, what so ever, that Hong Kong was ever going to retain any independence. I hate farces.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:40 AM (85Gof)

402 I've been very skeptical of that thread coming out now when Sullivan's in the headlines. Too many unnamed alive people related to despicable acts. Seems like a Patterico level troll job to cast ridicule on Drumpf's supporters who will believe any nutter theory.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:22 AM (y7DUB)


Right. Currently, the reliability is not much higher than the "sources say" level. I have no idea who the guy is or how he knows what he claims he knows. Right now, everyone is trying to figure out why Sullivan is being such a dick, but given that he is an Obama appointee, that itself may be a sufficient explanation

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 11:41 AM (+u+qV)

403 The West should have pulled out of Hong Kong lock stock and barrel and left the chicoms with a lot of empty buildings

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:41 AM (85Gof)

404 I honestly thought the ChiComs would just use them as their cash cow. That they didn't just proves to me that at their core they're dumb as a bag of dicks no matter how well they do in sciency courses.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:40 AM (y7DUB)

They're Lefties, and at the end of the day lefties absolutely cannot resist killing the goose.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:42 AM (BAsqb)

405 Yeah China will eventually control Hong Kong completely and destroy its money making capacity.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:42 AM (KZzsI)

406 Secret squirrel: I read Grant's (twice) . First time through it seemed like a hard slog. A few years later I read them again and liked them a lot more.

Posted by: Who knew at May 24, 2020 11:43 AM (SfO/T)

407 I hate farces.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:40 AM (85Gof[\i]

You're really gonna hate the farce called the Covid-19 shutdown.

Posted by: Traveling Man Who's Stuck At Home&&&& at May 24, 2020 11:43 AM (ib8F/)

408 You're really gonna hate the farce called the Covid-19 shutdown.
Posted by: Traveling Man Who's Stuck At Home&&&& at May 24, 2020 11:43 AM (ib8F/)

LOL..Right on! Power to the People!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:44 AM (85Gof)

409 Traveling Man I should change it all to pex, someday.

Posted by: Skip at May 24, 2020 11:44 AM (ZCEU2)

410 Pierce's presidency started with tragedy IRL. On the was to the inauguration, the Pierce's train derailed and their son Bennie was killed right before his parents' eyes. That's the reason Pierce took the Oath using "affirm" instead of "swear".
Posted by: Captain Obvious, 1st Murder Hornet Squadron at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM (4o2K3)


How is it I never heard this before?

Pierce is considered to be one of those do-nothing, placeholder Presidents. If I recall (and why would I), he had a sort of resume that didn't add up to being elected President.

Anyhoo, watching a son get killed when you're on the way to the job... that would have an effect. I'm not sure it's worth me going and figuring out more about it, but in my mind at least, I'm going to give the man some slack.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:44 AM (hku12)

411 Reading a Grisham called "The Partner."

Same old shit. Guy finds out his partners are gonna cash in with a huge settlement from a whistleblower, the w.b. being a higher in a huge defense contractor, and the whole thing is a fraud. And the partners know it. And there's a dirty U.S. Senator they used to grease the skids.

So in a very clever way he nicks the 90 mil and disappears. Disappearing is easy for him because his ex-cheerleader wife has cheated from day one and the 30 month old girl is not his (he secretly did a DNA).

So, Grisham.

Oh, and he faked his own death a month before the settlement, had already bugged the law office, and collected all the dirt using a sailboat with an antenna, from a couple miles out in the Gulf.

There's half of your story.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at May 24, 2020 11:45 AM (+fPHo)

412 They're Lefties, and at the end of the day lefties absolutely cannot resist killing the goose.
Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:42 AM (BAsqb)


The weirdest thing I remember about the transition was that some of the most intransigent hands off people were relocated ChiComs.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:46 AM (y7DUB)

413 What's interesting to me is that the subject of the
photograph is advocating for government to handle the library system.
What we have seen is that when government takes over a system, it takes
money from all of us (at gunpoint mind you, try not paying your property
taxes and see if eventually the armed sheriffs don't show up and drag
you and your possessions out to the curb).



Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.


Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (oGBso)


the only private library I knew of recently was in Gaston, Oregon. Gaston straddles the line between Yamhill and Washington counties, and due to various funding issues between the counties, if the library was publicly funded, the cost and additional fees required to check out and use books there would depend on what your address was.

It was funded by donations only. It wasn't much other than a re-purposed grocery store with carpet and shelves put in, but it was a fun place.

lot of books donated and lot of subjects that were interesting to the local readers, I suspect.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 11:46 AM (WyVLE)

414 Reading Sarah Hoyt's "Deep Pink" it's a book about a PI, not bad so far.

Posted by: lin-duh en fugue at May 24, 2020 11:47 AM (UUBmN)

415
Both are very good. A very interesting contrast
of personalities-- Grant, who didn't like the Army, or war, doing what
he did because it was the quickest way to end the fighting, and Sherman,
who comes across as a detail oriented logistics psycho who probably
smiled once in his life and it hurt his face-- totally cold blooded.



Be forewarned if you're from Texas, Grant has nothing good to say about that state or its people.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:36 AM (BAsqb)

---
I disagree. Sherman has some very personal stuff in there, particularly regarding the death of his son in camp after Vicksburg. He was a little boy, and the 13th US Regulars adopted him as one of their own, teaching him drill, etc.

Sherman remarks that if anyone of the 13th is ever in need, they need only call on him and he will share his last penny. Deeply touching.

Also there's the amusing incident of the woman he courted while a young lieutenant in Georgia. When Union troops tried to gain entry into her house to "forage" (read: loot), she calmly showed them a book inscribed by him. They were skeptical but got an officer who said "That is the General's hand."

A heavy guard was placed on her home, which Sherman confirmed when he heard about it, remarking she was admirable and resourceful.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 11:47 AM (cfSRQ)

416 Even if it's these pants

Does those technically make her topless?

Posted by: Fox2! at May 24, 2020 11:47 AM (qyH+l)

417
I don't find that onerous and a $20 (or whatever it is now) discount for letting them show you ads sometimes isn't bad.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM


so, same price as in town?

Posted by: AltonJackson at May 24, 2020 11:48 AM (DUIap)

418 And to add to another topic. Andre Norton was my first sci-fi as well. Pretty sure it was The Time Traders but all I really remember is that she was the first sci-fi I read. It was over 50 years ago so that's my excuse for forgetting the details. In just a few years I found myself standing in front of the sci-fi section in the main library and realilizing I had read every one of them. I read sci-fi regularly until college graduation and then kind of gave up on it but in the last decade or so I've gotten back in to it.

Posted by: Who knew at May 24, 2020 11:48 AM (SfO/T)

419 Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.

It is one of, if not the biggest employer in the State of Oregon. Let that sink in a moment.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:48 AM (KZzsI)

420 After looking and realizing that the books are ebooks. I need a new device for ebooks, my last tablet had an unfortunate last date with the floor. I refuse to read them on my phone due to the small screen size. Any Horde recomendations? On a budget and it would just be for ebooks.

Posted by: Picric at May 24, 2020 09:19 AM

--

E-readers are nice, but I never could get away from the feeling of "you know, I'm carrying around a tablet that can't do tablet things, when a tablet running Calibre can read any format ebook I throw at it while still doing every other tablet or computer thing I need it to." The part where you can see it in sunlight if you decide to expose it to saltwater at the beach is a neat feature, though, so I'll give one point to a dedicated e-reader for that.

Maybe the neatest part is how much they'll remind you of a late 1990s Palm Pilot, though.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Historically we quarantine sick people. Hysterically we do it to healthy ones. at May 24, 2020 11:49 AM (rKJaX)

421 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 24, 2020 11:47 AM (cfSRQ)

I forgot about his son dying. Good point.

Posted by: Vanya at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (BAsqb)

422 Whatever the treaties and agreements said, at the end of the day Hong Kong isn't really militarily defensible, and the ChiComs were going to get it one way or another.

Margaret Thatcher talks about this in her autobiography. The ChiComs made it clear that they were taking the whole colony, by force if they had to.
Posted by: Biggs Darklighter at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM (LZ7Gl)


In the end, 2020 is going to make it quite clear... if you are willing to do business with Communist China, then you are willing to be the Devil's partner.

I can hear all the free marketeers coming up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't sever all ties to China as fast as we can, but what it all boils down to is, you'll buy and sell anything with a soulless evil, if you can make a buck.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (hku12)

423 What is this some kind of drug deal or an espionage op? You use a secret
drop point and go anonymously? These people are one match away from
being book burners

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (KZzsI)


I was thinking it was like providing an escort for Howard Hughes

Posted by: Kindltot at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (WyVLE)

424 A heavy guard was placed on her home, which Sherman confirmed when he
heard about it, remarking she was admirable and resourceful.


Moments later with a nostalgic sigh, he ordered her house to be burned to the ground. And then had a light lunch.

Posted by: deplorable unperson - Have you reported in to your assigned Contact Tracer today? at May 24, 2020 11:51 AM (SEgpK)

425 Thank's for the Sherman comments...ordered a copy.

Posted by: BignJames at May 24, 2020 11:52 AM (X/Pw5)

426 I had to park my car on the street, call the library, then a lady in a mask came out of the library carrying a brown paper bag which she then placed on the bench. Then the masked lady went back inside the empty library and I was allowed to retrieve my book-in-a-bag.

--

HAHAHAHA

The book that someone read on the toilet?

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Historically we quarantine sick people. Hysterically we do it to healthy ones. at May 24, 2020 11:52 AM (rKJaX)

427
I can hear all the free marketeers coming up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't sever all ties to China as fast as we can

"You can't! Our earnings next quarter will miss analyst expectations by $0.02!" - MBA dweeb

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 11:53 AM (mht8P)

428 In the end, 2020 is going to make it quite clear... if you are willing to do business with Communist China, then you are willing to be the Devil's partner.

I think many in the world are coming to the conclusion that they don't really need cheap crappy plastic stuff from China THAT much.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:53 AM (KZzsI)

429 In the end, 2020 is going to make it quite clear... if you are willing to do business with Communist China, then you are willing to be the Devil's partner.

I think many in the world are coming to the conclusion that they don't really need cheap crappy plastic stuff from China THAT much.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 11:53 AM (KZzsI)

Many of us here, have felt that way for 30 years

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 24, 2020 11:54 AM (85Gof)

430 Just finished reading "The Forgotten War-Korea 1950-1953" by Clay Blair. He was not kind to MacArthur or to many of the high ranking generals who prosecuted the war from the start. He did have a lot of good to say about Ridgeway. It was a pretty good read, about 1,000 pages. Now back to finish "The Bombers and the Bombed" by Richard Overy. Overy's style has made this kind of a slog. I've spent twice as much time on this as I did on Blair's book and it's only half as long.Next up will the "The Cruel Sea".

Posted by: Old Blue at May 24, 2020 11:54 AM (VNmG1)

431 Which Pierce was that...Millard Pierce or Chester A. Pierce?

Posted by: Hierominous Botch at May 24, 2020 11:55 AM (YqED9)

432
Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.
Posted by: Boots


Creeping, then leaping.
Gradually, then suddenly.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 24, 2020 11:56 AM (aKsyK)

433
Which Pierce was that...Millard Pierce or Chester A. Pierce?

Posted by: Hierominous Botch at May 24, 2020 11:55 AM (YqED9)


Mildred Pierce

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 11:57 AM (mht8P)

434 Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 09:14 AM

Warren Harding was from Marion County Ohio, and Rutherford Hayes was from Delaware County Ohio, the county to it's immediate south. I did most of my growing up in Delaware County.
Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:25 AM (edlKR)


Among other things, a solid reason why Harding isn't remembered fondly, is because it was fairly well known at the time that he was a poon hound, and that little tart with whom he had a child, she was known about, even if it wasn't openly discussed in polite company.

Back then, these things mattered.

Which is another way progressivsim can be seen as a lie.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:57 AM (hku12)

435
Which Pierce was that...Millard Pierce or Chester A. Pierce?
Posted by: Hierominous Botch


Benjamin Franklin Pierce, the annoying one.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 24, 2020 11:57 AM (aKsyK)

436 Picric,
The best ereader I've found is the Kindle Paperwhite. Just black and white. I use it for text only books. It has the best nonglare screen. And it fits in a breast pocket if that matters. Mine has held up for years. Good battery life, too.

Posted by: JTB at May 24, 2020 11:58 AM (7EjX1)

437 Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis might be the first science fiction book I read. It was either that or Fahrenheit 451.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at May 24, 2020 11:58 AM (Uu+Jp)

438 Whatever the treaties and agreements said, at the end of the day Hong Kong isn't really militarily defensible, and the ChiComs were going to get it one way or another.

Margaret Thatcher talks about this in her autobiography. The ChiComs made it clear that they were taking the whole colony, by force if they had to.
Posted by: Biggs Darklighter at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM (LZ7Gl)


In the end, 2020 is going to make it quite clear... if you are willing to do business with Communist China, then you are willing to be the Devil's partner.

I can hear all the free marketeers coming up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't sever all ties to China as fast as we can, but what it all boils down to is, you'll buy and sell anything with a soulless evil, if you can make a buck.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (hku12)
--------------------------

The USA and other western states should get outta Communist China ASAP. That 90% of our medications/base drugs come from there has been a huge wake up call for me.

Based on what happens on a smaller scale when good neighborhoods lose their luster and become bad neighborhoods (umm Detroit anyone?) Hong Kong is going to depopulate as Hong Kongers see the writing on the wall. And as people leave, the pace of leaving picks up. The empty buildings will be hard to ignore, and the economic freedom that made Hong Kong attractive will end as the commies choke it while putting it under their thumb.

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 11:58 AM (oGBso)

439 In the end, 2020 is going to make it quite clear... if you are willing to do business with Communist China, then you are willing to be the Devil's partner.

I can hear all the free marketeers coming up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't sever all ties to China as fast as we can, but what it all boils down to is, you'll buy and sell anything with a soulless evil, if you can make a buck.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (hku12)


Although Nixon's weird politics set us up for the dry anal rape, I think it was under Slick and the Bush Crime Family that penetration began in earnest.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 24, 2020 11:59 AM (y7DUB)

440
Harding was faced with the postwar depression, which he faced and solved by resolutely... doing nothing.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 11:59 AM (mht8P)

441 I think one of them is "renowned" for lowering the price of a stamp from $.03 back down to $.02, or some such. I seem to recall that about half of his Presidential Library is devoted to the story of that legislative coup.

Posted by: Hierominous Botch at May 24, 2020 11:59 AM (YqED9)

442 Hong Kong was the opening salvo to China's plan. The next hardline they will take is with Taiwan. The last time we tried calling their bluff regarding Taiwan (under BUshor Clinton) one of their generals was quoted as saying "is LA worth Taiwan?"
I have no doubt the Chinese will use whatever means necessary. That they have 1B people and are willing to let something like the 'ROna out of a lab (or deliberately released it) killing who knows how many of their own people, they will stop at nothing to achieve their end state. Perhaps nothing on the order of a full scale nuclear conflict, but a nuke surreptitiously dropped or planted somewhere on a cargo barge or from a sub- who knows. No one thought terrorists would hijack planes and fly them into the towers either. It's call asymmetrical warfare and the chinese are masters of it.
With the virus upsetting world trade, I think the Chinese leadership has recognized there is a movement among the people of the US to buy American and bring back industry here. For that to occur, much has to be done (reform labor laws, environmental permitting etc etc). If the Chinese think they can get us back to status quo, lull us into another false sense of security, they'll snatch Taiwan knowing that they still build our stuff. If, however, we take the alternative and rebuild our industry, they make take a pause on their plans.
I think Trump would be willing to bring back our industries- but Chinese money is very addicting. Their influence in our media and government has been shown in the light during this pandemic. What alarms me is the willingness of the media and some govt officials to not only placate the chinese and mirror their talking points, but to kowtow as well.
I keep going back to the cold war days and why we won. It wasn't because the Soviet Union made our phones, computers, steel, forks, radios or tvs. I wish other people would remember that too.

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 12:00 PM (xyImL)

443 I am related via marriage to some Hong Kong Chinese, and they are planning to leave.
They have been preparing for years to do so.
Time has come.

Posted by: navybrat, larger than life at May 24, 2020 12:00 PM (w7KSn)

444 I suspect every country has this problem dealing with others. Not all Canadians sound like the MacKenzie brothers.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 24, 2020 10:31 AM (ZbwAu)

I know, eh?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 24, 2020 12:00 PM (wOAlk)

445 And another thing about Communist China that relates to the Book Thread, I did not know until the Wuhan Flu broke out that most books in the USA are printed in Communist China.

I'm not buying any more new books printed in Communist China. Used yes, but not new books.

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 12:01 PM (oGBso)

446 Moments later with a nostalgic sigh, he ordered her house to be burned to the ground.

-

Don't be silly.

- 7000 lost volumes from the University of Alabama's intentionally burned library

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Historically we quarantine sick people. Hysterically we do it to healthy ones. at May 24, 2020 12:01 PM (rKJaX)

447 Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.




Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 10:50 AM (oGBso)



I believe in the entire state of Illinois government is the biggest employer. Gee, I wonder why it's broke

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 24, 2020 12:01 PM (iY5nh)

448 Nowadays, government is the biggest employer in most cities and towns across the nation. Talk about your creeping socialism.

-

Look no farther than the polls about re-opening.

70% of the country is being paid by the government and haven't missed a check.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Historically we quarantine sick people. Hysterically we do it to healthy ones. at May 24, 2020 12:02 PM (rKJaX)

449 422. Yep

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 12:02 PM (ONvIw)

450 I did not know until the Wuhan Flu broke out that most books in the USA are printed in Communist China.

Yeah its... very frustrating. It is virtually impossible to shut out China entirely in your purchasing because they use slave labor and cut throat cheap practices to manufacture things for pennies on the dollar, so every business went to them to make things. Everything. Medicine, clothing, building materials, garden seeds, books, everything.

You have to practically grow your own stuff and make things out of it personally to cut out China.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 12:02 PM (KZzsI)

451 MAYBE this is a book-related question? What's the origin of the expression a lot of commenters here use, and Ace uses: "Be better." I get the meaning (I think); I don't know where it's from. Impossible to google that.

Posted by: m at May 24, 2020 12:04 PM (Fqlfr)

452
Nud

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 24, 2020 12:04 PM (mht8P)

453 NOOOD

Posted by: Ghost of Qassem Soleimani at May 24, 2020 12:04 PM (5XwFj)

454 And another thing about Communist China that relates to the Book Thread, I did not know until the Wuhan Flu broke out that most books in the USA are printed in Communist China.

I'm not buying any more new books printed in Communist China. Used yes, but not new books.

Posted by: Boots at May 24, 2020 12:01 PM (oGBso)


We gave away everything, didn't we?

We suck. Seriously.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 12:04 PM (hku12)

455 I do believe that Amazon books written by Horde authors and ordered via paperback are printed in the USA. At least, that's what it tells me on the author screen. Mayhaps out of CA?

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 12:06 PM (xyImL)

456 3 Days Of The Barrel

Posted by: freaked at May 24, 2020 12:09 PM (Tnijr)

457 You have to practically grow your own stuff and make things out of it personally to cut out China.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 24, 2020 12:02 PM (KZzsI)

Yes. In my case, I revived my knitting skills to make sweaters for the fam. It's easy to find US made materials. I research everything I can to avoid "imported materials" too. "We" did not give away our manufacturing base, richie-rich did, so he could have more billions, and he'll fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.

Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 12:10 PM (ONvIw)

458 Pirate from the flood zone: I'm late, so maybe this has already been suggested: Any load you have for the dump gets dropped at City Hall. Locals get pissed, tell them the next one is dropped in their driveway. Encouragement for them to tell the gorram fascist to go off herself.
Posted by: Bikermailman at May 24, 2020 11:04 AM (zMUOV)

Just make certain that the trash you dump has nothing in it that can be traced back to you. Because you know the bastards would try.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 24, 2020 12:13 PM (wOAlk)

459 Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work. Try The Door Into Summer, Friday, Methuselah's Children, and his best juvenile, Have Space Suit Will Travel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM

Have Space Suit Will Travel is, in fact, the first mass market paperback I ever bought with my own money. The best thirty-five cents I ever spent.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 12:17 PM (edlKR)

460 Wolfus Aurelius: I really don't think I could manage it now; my hand would cramp! I'm so glad to have word processing software!

While I like handwriting, my penmanship is marginally legible even to me, and it's slow (legibility and speed vary inversely), so I was glad to learn typing in HS. Which of course served me well when computers came along.

Last time I used a typewriter, I was doing a multi-page, multi-carbon-copy document. Corrections were... a process, and I mika missteeks.(Make sure the white-out dries before you type again!)

Then almost done with page five, realized there's that paragraph on page 2 that got left out -- I took it out physically on the poor old long-serving typewriter, infuriated, not just at my error, but because, on the next desk, I had a new computer (RS Model I).

After the typewriter was repaired, I put it aside forever, and wrote my own primitive but servicable word-processing software, which served 'til better 'ware came along.

I keep a couple of manual typewriters for the end times. I'll bet the ribbons are dried out now, though.
____
Thunderer, the Daisy Wheel Printer
mindfulwebworks.com/art-of/thunderer-the-daisy-wheel-printer

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 12:19 PM (bd376)

461 Posted by: Les Kinetic at May 24, 2020 11:45 AM (+fPHo)

Grisham was fun until I read 'The Appeal' where he really cranked up his lefty virtue-signalling. Conservatives are all evil and corrupt and in cahoots with CEOs whose companies dump toxic chemicals into the water supply.

I guess that has always been there in his novels, but in the earlier ones, it was far enough under the surface that I could ignore it, but in this book, whoa, he just sort of smashes it into your face.

So, no more Grisham for me.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 12:23 PM (+u+qV)

462 459 Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Stranger is anywhere near his best work. Try The Door Into Summer, Friday, Methuselah's Children, and his best juvenile, Have Space Suit Will Travel.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 24, 2020 10:25 AM


No love for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?

And coming out of his dirty old man phase, Friday was surprisingly good.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 12:28 PM (+u+qV)

463 443 I am related via marriage to some Hong Kong Chinese, and they are planning to leave.
They have been preparing for years to do so.
Time has come.
Posted by: navybrat, larger than life at May 24, 2020 12:00 PM (w7KSn)


Many HK residents fled in the 90s just as the 99-year lease was set to expire. Sounds like it's happening again.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at May 24, 2020 12:30 PM (+u+qV)

464 pep: ...when typing, I don't have the time to concentrate on polishing things before putting them down. With writing, my brain has time to think about the text....

There y'go. Pep says in two sentences what I took two manny paragraffs trying to convey.

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 12:31 PM (bd376)

465 I don't find that onerous and a $20 (or whatever it is now) discount for letting them show you ads sometimes isn't bad.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 11:38 AM

so, same price as in town?

Posted by: AltonJackson at May 24, 2020 11:48 AM

Just so.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 24, 2020 12:37 PM (edlKR)

466 Captain Hate: As much as I love to stick it to the limeys it was a 99 year old treaty that they had no choice but to adhere to.

Then they should have turned it over to Taiwan.

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 12:41 PM (bd376)

467 Hairyback Guy: They should have given Hong Kong back to the rightful rulers of China.....The Republic of China.

I wondered if someone would've beat me to it. o'course.

Posted by: mindful webworker
invulnerability - word I learned from the comic books
at May 24, 2020 12:45 PM (bd376)

468 I'm usually too late for this thread and today is no exception. Have to thank the Horde as I noticed a conspicuous sales increase in the morning hours. Thanks for coming by our sale and thanks to Hans Schantz for organizing.

Skimming through the above, some thoughts.

Time Traders: The followup is Galactic Derelict and yep, a small crew get yanked across the galaxy to several stops following a taped route. They aren't sure they can get home but eventually reverse the tape and cross fingers.

Heinlein: I'm also on for his latest, "Pankera," but not sure what to expect. For my money his high point was Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. A limited narrator, AI without a survival instinct, revolution on several levels, loved it. Starship Troopers is close behind. Of course he wrote THAT in just a few weeks, as a response to American pullback in Southeast Asia.

Echoing above, reviews are great. Two sentences is plenty. Even just a starred rating helps.

Posted by: John Taloni at May 24, 2020 12:45 PM (/Nhc5)

469 Regarding books printed in the USA - I believe most POD publishers and many of the larger ones have an account with Lightning Source, Intl. (which is part of Ingram, the distributors) and their printing plant is in La Vergne, Tennessee. That's where all my books for the Tiny Publishing Bidness are printed and shipped from, although I believe they also have a printing plant in CA, and another in England.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 24, 2020 12:55 PM (xnmPy)

470 Give KING KONG back to the Monkey Thread dude.

Posted by: saf at May 24, 2020 12:56 PM (5IHGB)

471 Many thanks for the addition of my book recommendation. I am thinking that the further we get from 1989, the more the memories will fade, and we need to instill in young people why November 9, 1989 was such a big deal and why it happened. Not to mention that I hope someone out there will read it and enjoy it for themselves.

I've hit a pause button on reading for now but with any luck as some situations clear up I can read more. We shall see. For one thing I need to extract my Churchill bio from OH, and that may happen in the next week. We shall see.

(Unrelated but I hope y'all will indulge a bit of mirth: I never was big on graduations. If I had my way, I wouldn't have shown up at my HS graduation or my B.A. graduation. I didn't bother with my M.A. graduation. But I get that it is a big deal for some. If I had my way, I'd go to my nephew's HS graduation, but nope. At every graduation ceremony in America this year, they need to play the Monty Python theme, which is fitting as all of America has plunged into a Monty Python skit.)

OK, back to books. I need more Berlin books. It is my obsessive devotion since my ninth year...

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at May 24, 2020 01:02 PM (ejsiI)

472 115 My brother and I came home from work at McClellan AFB on that fateful day in 1989 and with disbelief watched the Wall in Berlin coming down on the TeeVee....looked at each other and said ... "There goes our jobs!!!"

And there went out jobs at McClellan AFB.

For the record, my Cold War job was rewinding aircraft generators at that time.
Posted by: torabora at May 24, 2020 09:41 AM (ivSG+)

I got home from school and was preparing to go to a HS football game. I did what any 14 year old would do at the time: I put it on CNN (back when it was decent and THE 24-hour news network). I heard "This just in: the East German government has opened the sector borders with West Berlin."

I stopped and thought about it. Then I laughed and said, "They CAN'T do that! Because if they opened the sector borders, then what's the point of having the-"

When I got home from the football game, it was back in front of the TV for me. I didn't sleep much that night.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at May 24, 2020 01:15 PM (ejsiI)

473 283
Not long ago I listened to a Sherlock Holmes collection narrated by Stephen Fry.

Fry is a good narrator, but his American accent sounds off. I can't quite explain it it, but it sounds off.

I'm sure Americans sound off to native speakers when they try Irish, Scottish or Australian accents.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at May 24, 2020 10:49 AM (Uu+Jp)

It's late to be responding, but my daughter and I are working our way through the BBC series Jeeves and Wooster starring Fry and Laurie.
Last night was an episode where Wooster let Jeeves go over a trombone, then went off to a friend's cottage to practice. Said friend was having American visitors.

My daughter didn't know the plot and didn't catch that the visiting father and daughter were Amnerican and when they started talking, she asked, "Are they supposed to be talking with an American accent?"
Overall a very well done series, I thought.

Posted by: StillJohn at May 24, 2020 01:27 PM (4UNSt)

474 @455
You order a book, they are printed up at the nearest Amazon warehouse (In SoCal it's San Bernardino) and they they are delivered to you by the next morning.
It's a hard business model to beat, as other book sellers are aware.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 01:36 PM (AwPyG)

475 307 > Found that book on the shelf yesterday. Have never read it.

Animal Farm, 1984, and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch should be required reading for every high school in the United States. The Gulag Archipelago should be required for college graduation.



Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 24, 2020 10:55 AM (mNq/0)

I'd like to see that. I read Animal Farm as a sophomore and it was the one time in class discussion where I actually understood the symbolism.

My evil sophomore English teacher (who would use a gavel to call class to order until a student stole it midway through the year) said, rather pretentiously, before discussion: "We are about to find out which of the students in my class have a grasp of history." Well, I broke down and understood the symbolism of the novel. That shut him up, except for his chiming in "We have a student who knows his history, students!" I was thinking in my 15 year old mind, "Yeah, no shit, asshole?"

MCMLXXXIV was not required reading in school (for shame) but in senior year we all had to write a critical analysis of a book in order to graduate. Any author would do so long as the author was a Brit. I jumped on Eric Blair's brilliant novel.

One Day in the Life... came later, in college.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at May 24, 2020 01:42 PM (ejsiI)

476 What irked me the most is that with the remains of the school year coming to a close, I was informed that the poor pitiful teachers are cruelly saddles with the burden of packing up student belongings that have been sitting there for a couple months and that this is "heroic" labor, right on par with healthcare workers (and I don't see us as superheroes either btw. I was not feted and thanked for cleaning wounds of AIDS patients, and changing the dressings that plenty of staff refused to change back in the 80's and 90s, and that was a bigger deal than wuflu especially before the antivirals emerged) Fuck this bullshit!!!
Posted by: CN at May 24, 2020 11:14 AM (ONvIw)

The problem is that in this society (or most of it anyway), everything a teacher does is "heroic" or the Lord's work. And a lot of people firmly believe that teachers are completely above criticism (to include teachers themselves), so you'll have silliness like what you describe. For me, I had five teachers I would count as heroic, and out of those, I could say I loved but ONE (I respected the other four). The rest? They could jump in a lake.

There are nauseating memes out there in FB land that repeat what you describe as if we are to just bow down and kiss the feet of all teachers.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at May 24, 2020 01:48 PM (ejsiI)

477 474 @455
You order a book, they are printed up at the nearest Amazon warehouse (In SoCal it's San Bernardino) and they they are delivered to you by the next morning.
It's a hard business model to beat, as other book sellers are aware.
Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 01:36 PM (AwPyG)

I ordered a copy of my own book via paperback but it's going to take Amazon a couple weeks to get it to me. Well hey, not complaining. I'd never be able to break into the publishing world without amazon so i'm fine with that. plus its printed in the USA.
I read somewhere- can't recall which SCIFI author- but he was raving about Amazon and other platforms for authors to publish. He was saying that agents won't pick up new authors and book publishers won't risk new talent. So Amazon is the best way to go for new authors.
Of course, i hear that and then i walk into a Barnes and Noble and see the amount of garbage that is published by people i have never heard of and i scratch my head.

Posted by: secret squirrel, author of 3 LTs of Joint Base Lear MacBeth available on Amazon at May 24, 2020 01:53 PM (xyImL)

478 I can hear all the free marketeers coming up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't sever all ties to China as fast as we can, but what it all boils down to is, you'll buy and sell anything with a soulless evil, if you can make a buck.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 24, 2020 11:50 AM (hku12)

I like the Mark Levin view on this: he's all for free trade. Except with China, for China is the enemy.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at May 24, 2020 01:57 PM (ejsiI)

479 About the Berlin Wall: I went to Europe in 1987 and one of my stops was Berlin. My hostel was in the burbs somewhere so I came in on the trolley and started walking around. Saw a neat looking monument in the distance and started walking. Realized as I got closer that I was at the Wall right near the Reichstag. I couldn't get to the monument as it was over the wall.

A look into my guidebook told me that was Brandenburg Tor. I went through Checkpoint Charlie the next day and still couldn't go to it as it was patrolled by East German soldiers. Spent the day walking around East Berlin, seeing monuments, looking at the East German people who all looked depressed and down in the mouth compared to their West German cousins. It's the Cold War in miniature, my personal experience of a vast geopolitical issue.

Fast forward two years later. The Wall comes down. German citizens flock to Brandenburg Tor and climb all over it in a famous shot. I had a phone call with my then-girlfriend and said "I can't believe that since the last time I talked to you the Berlin Wall fell!" She responded, "What's the Berlin Wall?" Yeah...that relationship didn't last.

Posted by: John Taloni at May 24, 2020 02:04 PM (/Nhc5)

480 I wanted to say thanks for the spotlight on my "Presidents of the Uncanny States of America" series. I woke up to a significant sales boost this morning, and I'm sure it's due to this. I'm very grateful! I really hope that those of you who picked up either book will enjoy them!

Posted by: Eric M Hamilton at May 24, 2020 02:20 PM (Rh/VF)

481 @477
You should rejoice, because the last thing you care about, if you are trying to support yourself by writing fiction, is whether your physical book is on a shelf somewhere.
Literally all the money nowadays is in digital publishing. I know this myself, my print sales are about 8% of my digital sales.
It's a paradigm shift, especially for people of the older generation, but books on shelves are a tiny part of publishing.
Amazon sells roughly 1.3 million ebooks every day. Every day.

Posted by: artemis at May 24, 2020 03:38 PM (AwPyG)

482 Watching "WW II In HD" on the History channel and they interviewed the author, June Wandry. This memoir is based on her diary during WWII. She passed away in 2005, at 85-y.o. A couple of libraries have it, but most are shut down. But this is now on my "to read" list.

Bedpan Commando: The Story of a Combat Nurse During World War II https://www.amazon.com/dp/0962555509/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_jfUYEbXR7C33M

Posted by: March Hare at May 24, 2020 05:08 PM (81x1b)

483 "The best ereader I've found is the Kindle Paperwhite. Just black and
white. I use it for text only books. It has the best nonglare screen.
And it fits in a breast pocket if that matters. Mine has held up for
years. Good battery life, too."
The Paperwhite is a nice piece of hardware. However, the software has serious limitations: There's no way to turn off the Amazon hard sell. And the software doesn't support the EPUB format, which is the open format for ebooks: again, Amazon. And the interface for downloading files from the Internet will not download a PDF, claiming that the Kindle doesn't support it, but that's not true: If you load a PDF directly into the "documents" folder, the Kindle will display it. I use that feature to read sheet music on my Kindle: the notes are very small, but quite legible.

Posted by: Brown Line at May 24, 2020 06:25 PM (S6ArX)

484 Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock looks like Angela Lansbury.

Posted by: DavidD at May 24, 2020 07:56 PM (ZZyvS)

485 I couldn't resist commenting. Perfectly written!

Posted by: Tremun Piercing Company at June 12, 2020 08:08 AM (xU48q)

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